The Other Side of the Door
by Raconfleur
Summary: With social statuses reversed, Byakuya, originating from Rukongai, attends the Shinigami Academy to establish his legacy as one of the greatest captains that ever lived, and just possibly wins the heart of the noble Kuchiki Hisana along the way. Byakuya/Hisana.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach!**

Hi guys, after some much thinking over, I'm rewriting my story, _Social Experiment_, which actually used to be called _Contradictive_ under my friend on the site, **Sabathiel**.  
>She doesn't really care for this anymore, so it's basically mine, but the plot idea and some of the OCs in here are hers, though I did cut a few of them out and changed Matsuda's name (kind of) ^^;<br>This chapter is just me rewriting Sabathiel's original first three chapters. It's all her work, just slightly modified, and I'd rather just keep it all together instead of splitting them up.  
>Enjoy, and please tell me what you think.<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>Dear New Student,<em>

_It is with sincere pleasure that we inform you we can offer you a place in our incoming freshman class of the Shinô Reijutsuin – Soul Reaper Academy. Good health is of the utmost importance in maintaining good academic standing as well as quality of life. We aim to support you in all aspects of your health during your time at Shinô Reijutsuin, beginning with making your arrival as smooth as at the Shinô Reijutsuin have a proud 2000-year history of developing young kidō wielders, secret remote officers and court guards. We wish you the best in your future endeavors._

_Wishing you the best of health,_

**_Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai, G.C.  
><em>**_General Captain  
>13 Court Guards"<em>

Asahi Byakuya sighed in relief after reading over the letter and set it down firmly onto the pathetic excuse of a coffee table they had. He looked over the envelope once more, thankful that it wasn't a 'thin' one and then carefully folded his letter and tucked it inside his robes so not to lose it.

"Byakuya!" a boy said as he came into the shack they lived in. "Is that the letter from Shinô? Why'd you open it without me?"

Byakuya shrugged in response. "You're late, Nori."

Matsuda Noriyuki was short for his age, barely hitting 5'5 with curly jet black hair that fell over his bright hazel eyes. "Where's mine?" he asked with a small pout.

"You didn't bother to ask if I even got accepted?" Byakuya asked, raising his eyebrow as his 'best friend' so carelessly cast him aside. Regardless, he pointed to their pathetic coffee table where two letters were neatly laid out, one thick and one thin.

"Yes, and for a reason too," Noriyuki protested. "You should have waited for Takeshi and me."

"Where is he, anyways?" Byakuya asked as Noriyuki hesitantly poked at the thick letter, seeing his name on it. He tried to remain optimistic for Takeshi who had yet read his letter.

"He's securing dinner for us," he replied, making a small tear in the envelope as if he could sneak a peek at what fate held for him.

"Just read it. Takeshi won't care," the taller one snapped, irked by Noriyuki's immaturity.

Noriyuki looked really torn between the letter and to the door, praying that he wouldn't have to choose between the answer that could change his life forever and the look on his friend's face when he found out he was the last to read his letter. Lucky for him, he didn't have to choose as Takeshi chose that moment to come in through the door with their other friend, Yuriko.

"We have dinner!" she announced, producing four juicy red apples for them. Seeing the envelope in Noriyuki's hands she excitedly exclaimed, "The letters have come in? Hurry and open it!"

"Did they?" Takeshi asked, looking at Byakuya and Noriyuki. "I assume you've already opened yours?"

"I've been accepted," Byakuya stated, not really caring what he thought.

"I waited for you," Noriyuki answered with a bright grin.

"Thanks for waiting," he said sarcastically to Byakuya as he fondly mussed up Noriyuki's hair. "But congratulations," Takeshi said as he went to get his letter, trying not to let the thinness of it get to him. "On a count of three?"

Noriyuki nodded, "One."

"Two."

"Three."

Noriyuki let out a cheer of triumph. "Dear New Student, it is with sincere pleasure that we inform you we can offer you a place in our incoming freshman class of the Shinô Reijutsuin – Soul Reaper Academy!" He exclaimed as he read the first line of his acceptance letter.

Takeshi remained silent for a moment, rereading the words quickly to himself before shaking his head and then sighing in defeat. "Dear Mr. Aizawa, it is with sincere regret that we inform you that we cannot offer you a place in our incoming freshman class." Takeshi sighed again and tore the letter into shreds without bothering to even finish reading it.

"You didn't get accepted?" Byakuya gasped in surprise. "How is that possible, Takeshi? You were the-"

"Stop it," Takeshi said firmly. "I don't want pity." Looking up, he forced himself to look at Byakuya and Noriyuki. "Congratulations, you guys deserve it. Looks like I'm stuck here until next year. And Byakuya, don't be ridiculous; you were the brightest of us all."

Noriyuki looked at him sadly. "And this is where the cookie crumbles."

"When do you two leave?" Takeshi asked.

"The school year doesn't start until a few months so we'll be around," Byakuya answered.

"That's good to hear," Yuriko said.

"No, it isn't!" Noriyuki protested. "No offense to you all, but I want to get out of here as soon as possible and become a Shinigami. It's been my dream for forever, ever since I was saved from a hollow by one. I can't wait any longer! Right, Byakaya?"

Yuriko laughed at Noriyuki's enthusiasm. "You two better visit, alright?" she said as she hugged Byakuya and Noriyuki. "Have fun, and do be careful, alright? I don't need you two getting killed in the line of duty."

"Yeah, yeah," Noriyuki replied, slipping out of her embrace to escape her nagging. "Takeshi, you have to make it in next year, alright? Get that acceptance letter!"

"Will do," he replied with a broad grin. "Try not to get into a whole lot of trouble without me."

"Like Nori can do anything with Byakuya around," Yuriko laughed, earning a frown from Byakuya.

"I know right? He's such a downer," Noriyuki laughed. "Listen, I hate to be cliché, but friends forever, okay?"

"Friends forever," they all answered.

* * *

><p>"Woah," Noriyuki gasped as he stared at the entrance to the Seireitei. "It's amazing, isn't it, Byakuya?" Without waiting for his friend's reply, he hurried on ahead with wide eyes. "Amazing!"<p>

Byakuya rolled his eyes. "You're too easily entertained," he muttered, as he looked over his shoulder to see other students from the Rukongai coming in... as well as the rich people lucky enough to be born inside the Seireitei. "Nori, let's hurry and find the entrance ceremony and orientation."

"Oh, right," Noriyuki said agreeably. "We get our schedules there, don't we? And room assignments!"

Byakuya nodded quickly. "Just go," he said, just trying to avoid getting any attention drawn to them.

"Welcome, freshmen!" a teacher shouted as groups of students passed them. He rambled on about the school's academic histories and continued directing the students to places. When prompted by Noriyuki, he directed them to the main building's auditorium where they took seats in the back.

The auditorium was huge and housed at the most ten thousand students to show just how elite and prestigious their private academy was. The sixth year class president opened with a speech, declaring just how important the incoming freshman were and through their rigorous work, they, the next generation, would become soldiers of the Gotei 13 destined to serve the Seireitei and protect those in need from the hollows that plagued their world. After welcoming the class to the Shinô Academy, the class president left with a rounding applause after dismissing the students to pick up their schedules and receive their room assignments.

They filed in lines according to their year and the first letter of their surname to receive their schedules. "Er, Asahi Byakuya," he said when prompted by his attendance clerk. She gave him his schedule as well as a check. "What's that for?" he asked, looking at it with a puzzled look.

"You're on scholarship, aren't you?" she asked, frowning at him and wondering why he had never heard of anything. "Your test scores were outstanding so you have a full ride. The check is to get your books."

"Oh, thanks," Byakuya mumbled, going back to meet Noriyuki who snatched the schedule and check out his hands with a confused look. "Apparently, I'm here on scholarship."

"Oh, congratulations, that saves money for our books. I can share with you, right?" he asked, looking over Byakuya's schedule.

_Asahi Byakuya  
>01 Demon Arts Studies<br>02 Movement: Hohou  
>03 Swordplay Studies<br>04 Demon Arts: Kidō  
>05 Hand to Hand Combat Studies<br>06 Hand to Hand Combat: Hakuda  
>07 Movement Studies<br>08 Swordplay: Zanjutsu_

"I have... Demon Arts Studies, Kidō, Movement Studies and Zanjutsu with you," Noriyuki said happily, knowing that he landed the jackpot, considering those were Byakuya's best subjects. "Do these courses kind of seem repetitive to you?"

"Well, considering Kidō, Hohou, Hakuda and Zanjutsu are the four necessities to become a Shinigami, this Academy didn't have much of a curriculum to begin with," Byakuya answered. "I think there's one course to study the topic, and the other course is where we actually perform the topic."

"Makes sense, I guess," he answered, "but I have Hakuda before Hakuda studies. That kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it? How can I practice it if I don't _know_ anything about it?"

"I'm sure the curriculum works just fine," Byakuya assured him as they headed to their dorm room. "Is it just us two?

"Yeah," Noriyuki replied as he fumbled with the keys to unlock the door. Dropping all his bags, he jumped on the closest bed, dubbed it his own, and then relaxed. "We made it, Byakuya. We actually made it."

"Yes," Byakuya agreed with a soft smile. "Yes, we did.

* * *

><p>At the Kuchiki manor, the youngest and only heir slept soundly as she rubbed her check against the silky sheets. With a soft sigh of contentment, she stretched and then hugged the covers against her delicate frame. The covers over her felt like running water and it seemed to just slide through her fingers.<p>

"Lady Hisana?" Her handmaid softly called out as she gently knocked on her Lady's door before slowly opening it and entering. "Your father has requested me to tell you that you are to be getting up now and that you are to get dressed and be down for breakfast as soon as possible," she said meekly as she bowed her head down.

"Alright, thank you," Hisana sighed, stretching again and touching the soft carpet with her bare feet. She pulled her night gown against her body as she headed to the bath prepared by her maid. She slid the gown off her shoulders and gently stopped her maid from helping. "Thank you, but I'll be fine."

"Yes, Lady Hisana," she said with a nod and left her mistress to deal with her other morning chores.

Hisana slowly slid into the tub and made a sound of appreciation as the heated water warmed up her skin and she cleansed herself with a fragrance of crushed lilies and passion flower. Her peace was abruptly shattered when she could hear her father's voice echoing as he firmly told one of the servants to retrieve her. Kuchiki Sojun could never be pleased. She shook her head and reached for a towel to dry herself off. She slid a robe on and brushed out her smooth hair before putting on her red uniform and heading down to the dining room.

"Good morning, Father," Hisana mumbled as she seated herself across from him.

"Good morning, Hisana," Sojun answered gruffly. "Classes begin today. Eat up quickly. No one in my family is going to be late for class. And what did I say about your wet hair?"

"But Father," Hisana started as she was cutting her breakfast into bite-sized pieces. "It's still very early. I still have time to dry my hair before I leave."

"You'd better. You look like you're from Rukon," he said, lifting a piece of food to his lips. She nodded and ate her breakfast in silence. "Hisana, dear, you did pick up your schedule yesterday, correct?"

"Yes, Father," She replied, reaching for the neatly folded slip of paper in her pocket. She unfolded it and handed it over to her father to read:

_Kuchiki Hisana  
>01 Demon Arts Studies<br>02 Movement: Hohou  
>03 Movement Studies<br>04 Hand to Hand Combat: Hakuda  
>05 Hand to Hand Combat Studies<br>06 Demon Arts: Kidō  
>07 Swordplay Studies<br>08 Swordplay: Zanjutsu_

"I'm going to go dry my hair," Hisana announced so her father wouldn't bother her. "I'll leave right after."

"Hisana, don't be late. It doesn't look good for the family," he said, refolding the schedule and setting it on her bag. Hisana rolled her eyes from her room.

* * *

><p>The morning was lovely with warm sunlight pouring through the windows. It would have been a perfect one for Byakuya if his new custom-made alarm clock hadn't yanked the covers off of him while exclaiming, "WAKE UP!" in his ear. Byakuya could only groan in response and opened his eyes to slowly glare at Noriyuki who was crouched down by his bedside. "We're going to be late," he said, already dressed and ready to go.<p>

"Already?" Byakuya gasped, jerking up into a sitting position. "How is it possible that you're up before me?" Noriyuki, usually lazy, liked to sleep in... unless there was food involved...

"For breakfast?" he finished sheepishly.

Byakuya glared at him and then flopped back down to sleep. "Go without me."

"But Byakuya, food!" he said, as if that was the answer to life. "We have a guaranteed meal plan where we can eat as much as we want!"

"I don't understand how you'd be able to inhale all that food considering your size," Byakuya answered. "Go without me. I'll meet you in class." Noriyuki shrugged and reminded him to get up half an hour from now and then left after telling him where they should meet.

Unable to get back to sleep, Byakuya finally got up and took a hot shower to rinse off. He closed his eyes, feeling quite relaxed despite his rude awakening from Nori. He washed the soap off and quickly rinsed to rid himself of any remaining suds before toweling himself off. Byakuya slid into his blue academy uniform and glanced at himself in the mirror once more. He looked neat, tidy and presentable. He locked the dorm as he left and went off to find Noriyuki at the cafeteria where they said they'd meet.

"You're late, and you got up before me," Byakuya grumbled, after finally meeting up with his friend.

"What? No way! We still have twenty minutes before class starts!" Noriyuki protested, pointing to his watch. "See?"

"Neither hands are moving," his friend pointed out.

"Eh?" he gasped, looking back at his watch with an uneasy grimace. "So, uh, how much time do we really have?"

"About five minutes," Byakuya stated, turning away to walk down the hallways quickly. "We're lucky our first period is so close to the cafeteria."

"What is our first period, anyways?" Noriyuki asked dumbfounded, obviously not having looked over the schedule. "Was it Hakuda?"

"No, I'm not even in your Hakuda class," Byakuya answered flatly. "Kidō Studies is first. You... never bothered to memorize your schedule, did you?"

Noriyuki shrugged. "Why bother? You're in half of my classes, after all."

"Nori, I'm not in the _other_ half of your classes," Byakuya pointed out as he hurried into the classroom. "Great, no seats," he muttered, looking around quickly before the bell rang. "Excuse me, can I sit here?" Byakuya asked quickly to a girl who, in his opinion, wore too much perfume.

"Sure," she replied, not even looking at him.

Noriyuki glared at Byakuya, muttering something about how life was unfair because Byakuya got a seat next to a pretty girl and he had to sit behind them with a guy twice his size.

The class started a few moments after the teacher, Nishimiura, paced around at the front of the lecture hall. "Good morning, class! As you all know, this is a Demon Arts Studies class. If you didn't know that, I'll assume you're probably in the wrong class." His comment caused several students to chuckle. "I'll say it again that this is a _Studies_ class. There will be no attempt at any of the Kidō Arts in this class; you will attempt those in the performance class. Continuing, the seats you're sitting in is now your permanent seating. I will pass a seating chart around in just a moment."

Noriyuki groaned and leaned forward to hit Byakuya in the back of the head. "This is all your fault," he hissed.

Byakuya could only frown and attempt to interpret what his friend meant. "How is it _my_ fault? You're the one who has the broken watch and eating disorder."

The girl next to Byakuya shushed him. "Are you trying to get us kicked out of this class? Nishimura-sensei does do that without a second thought, you know." She said crossly before opening a notebook to take notes on what the teacher was saying.

"Yeah, listen to what she said," Noriyuki added. "And I do _not_ have an eating disorder!"

In the middle of the class, Byakuya snuck a glance at the girl's notebook to catch her name. Hisana. It was a nice name. Hisana…? He frowned. She didn't write her last name on the notebook. Sooner or later, he would have to make a comment about the heavy fragrance. He assumed that Hisana was not from Rukon and was most likely from one of the decent families of the Seireitei.

"What are you looking at?" she asked suddenly, noticing that he was staring at her notebook.

"I'm just reading what notes you took and copying some of it," he answered casually, not trying to be creepy at all. "I can't hear Sensei very well."

"Um, okay," she said as she looked back up to the teacher and nudged her notebook towards him so he could read it easier. "I'm Hisana, by the way. I figured we should learn each other's names since we'll be sitting here for the rest of the school year."

"Oh. I'm Byakuya," he answered, not wanting to add his last name. He was tired of comments like, "Asahi? How high is that family in the social rankings?"

"And your friend?" she asked, gesturing to Noriyuki who, unsurprisingly, had already dozed off during the lecture.

"That's Nori, he's my roommate," Byakuya stated.

"Oh, how nice," she said, focusing her attention back to the professor.

After the tedious hour and a half, class was over. "Finally!" Noriyuki exclaimed. "I like this Academy. I mean, it's awesome that we only go to four classes a day."

Byakuya frowned. "What?"

Hisana looked at him and chuckled lightly. "You didn't know? There's no way that we can have all eight classes in one day, so we go to the first four today, and then the last four tomorrow. It's an AB schedule," she explained.

"Pretty convenient, huh?" Noriyuki grinned as he looked at Hisana. "What class are you going to next?"

"The Hohou Performance class," she answered, quickly sliding her belongings into her bag. "Well, nice to meet you. I need to hurry since my second period is on the other side of the campus." She sighed and waved goodbye before leaving the room.

"Oi, Byakuya?"

"What?"

"Don't _you_ have your Hohou Performance class second?"

"Oh, damn it," he hissed, shoving everything into his bag.

"See you, Byakuya," Noriyuki laughed as his friend bolted out the door.

* * *

><p>Hisana looked up as some students arrived to the training grounds a few seconds before the professor walked in, frowning when she recognized one of them from her class before. She watched him intently as he found a seat on the bleachers way in the back on the other side, obviously trying not to draw any attention to himself. She tapped her fingers on her thigh, trying to recall his name."Hm, it began with a 'B'... Byakushi? Oh right, Byakuya." She looked around for his little sidekick, and was secretly glad that he didn't have the same class.<p>

The Professor immediately opened up with the syllabus, considering it was the first day, and had no intentions of actually making them attempt any Hohou techniques until everybody had their first Movement Studies class.

"I wonder how that trash got in," someone behind Hisana whispered.

I didn't know they let in _those_ kind of people," someone else answered and the comment was rewarded with a soft giggle

"Excuse me, but who are you talking about?" Hisana asked when her curiosity got the better of her. She turned around to face a male and a female student.

"That guy over there. The one who showed up late," the girl replied as she gestured all the way over to Byakuya. The girl was petite in size with auburn curls tied with white ribbons.

"He's from the Rukon district," the boy added. From his looks, it was safe to assume he was related to the girl. "It's those kind of people that lower the Academy's standards."

"Oh," Hisana said as she looked over to Byakuya. He was taking notes on what the teacher was saying which was something she should have been doing, but it was hard with the two whispering behind her.

The girl stopped talking to her brother and began to take notes but then suddenly she realized something. "Oh my god, you're Kuchiki Hisana!" she exclaimed in a hushed voice. She leaned forward to tap Hisana's shoulder. "I didn't realize that one of the four noble family's heir was attending the Academy, let alone in my class."

Her brother looked rather surprised at hearing her exclamation. "A Kuchiki in our class? Please don't take this as offense, but I thought the Nobles hired private tutors, or joined the Gotei 13 right away."

"I didn't want a tutor, and I have no intentions of joining the Gotei 13 until I am fully trained," Hisana answered coolly. These people were insane. First they pick on the guy from the Districts and now they criticize a noble who attended a public school. "_They're like vultures_," Hisana mused to herself.

"I'm Andou Natsumi and this is my twin, Ren," the girl introduced quickly with a smile. "I hope we can be friends."

"Of course," Hisana said politely, turning away from them. "Andou," she thought to herself, trying to recall what her father said about other families. Before she had left her manor, he had spouted off some names, telling her they were a good crowd to befriend. "I guess I'll have to ask him tonight," she thought.

After second period was lunch break, and the moment class was dismissed, Natsumi very affectionately linked arms with Hisana and brightly said, "Kuchiki-chan, come eat lunch with us. We'll be eating with Ren-kun's friends who are heirs of some elusive families of the Seireitei. Of course, none are from a family as aristocratic as yours."

"They flaunt their family name and social status," Hisana noted to herself as she followed Natsumi and Ren. Natsumi was sure to introduce all of her friends to Hisana, emphasizing their family names as she did so and Hisana carefully made an attempt to remember them. In this clique, knowing each other's family names and statuses seemed to be mandatory.

* * *

><p>"Andou," Hisana said to Sojun when he joined her that night for dinner, and followed it up with the other names of her newfound friends.<p>

He looked up at her with a surprised look. "Excuse me, Hisana?"

"They're surnames of other families with status," Hisana explained. "I met them today and they seemed alright. I was just curious about what you know of them."

"Andou is a good family," Sojun answered. "They're probably the most prominent out of all the ones you named. Their son, Ren, is a fine young man. He'd make a great a husband and head of family," he elaborated, dropping a hint to his daughter.

Hisana blatantly ignored it, pretending to be dense and oblivious to what he was implying. "They're nice and all, but I think they cling to their social status too much, especially Andou Natsumi. They were talking about how disgraceful the Academy is for allowing student from the Rukongai to attend."

"Oh?" Her father looked at her curiously. "There are people from the Districts attending?"

"Yes, they're in some of my classes," Hisana replied.

"That's absurd," her father exclaimed. "It's one thing to let them enroll in the first place but a completely different thing to let them attend a class with a _noble_."

Hisana bit her lip, remaining silent. She decided it would be best that she didn't let her father know that she sat next to one of '_those District people_' in History.

* * *

><p>"Ochibi!" Noriyuki said to Byakuya when they retired to their dorms after their Kidō class.<p>

"What?" Byakuya asked, looking at him with a frown and wondering if Noriyuki had just called him short.

"They called me 'Rukongai Ochibi' in my Hakuda class!" Noriyuki explained with an annoyed look.

"Well, you are short, from Rukon and have no social status, so they got you for a trifecta," Byakuya said lightly.

"Bifecta," Noriyuki corrected quickly, and received a frown for the word he coined on the spot. "Having no social status and being from Rukon is the same thing, but that's not the point! It's not my fault I can't get past 5'6!"

"You're actually 5'5..." Byakuya corrected, further destroying what little pride Noriyuki had left. "If it makes you feel better, they call me trash."

"At least you're _tall_ trash..." Noriyuki muttered, still hung up about the height difference. "You tower six inches over me..." Giving up, he flopped down onto his bed and sighed. "I hate the people here."

"I do, too," Byakuya answered agreeable.

"Just wait," Noriyuki murmured. "I'm going to graduate from this Academy and I'll become a seated officer and then I'll eventually become one of the greatest, and _tallest_, captains this place has ever known. I'll show them."

"Sounds like a plan, Nori," Byakuya answered. "We'll be great captains together."

The following day, Byakuya to his Hakuda Studies class early, in an attempt to get a good seat. While waiting on the professor, he reviewed his notes in case of a Kidō pop quiz (because rumors stated that Nishimura was the devil when it came to quizzes) and nibbled at the breakfast he smuggled in. A sudden squeal dragged Byakuya's attention from his notes to Hisana who had just arrived in the classroom.

"Kuchiki-chan! I didn't know you had this class, too!" Natsumi squealed as she jumped out of her seat and ran up to Hisana. "Good morning! How are you today? Arisu-chan is in this class too! Quick! We should get a seat together and we can hang out."

Thankfully, the seat that Natsumi had hoped to give to Hisana had been taken by somebody else, and Hisana politely declined it, not wanting to make the other person move on her behalf. Instead, she chose to sit with Byakuya who still had an empty seat next to him. "Good morning," she said cheerfully.

"Good morning?" he asked, and couldn't help but to wonder just what on earth she was doing.

"I'm surprised I have yet another class with you," she said. "You were in my Kidō Studies and Hohou class yesterday, and now we have Hakuda together. What else do we have together?" Politely, he dug out his schedule out of his bag and slid it over to her with a frown. "Asahi," she said, reading his surname out loud. "How pretty." Glancing back down to his schedule, she scanned it briefly and exclaimed, "Ah! We have Zanjutsu together as well! Amazing, I don't think I have this many classes with anyone else. How lucky, right?"

"That's nice..." Byakuya mumbled, not really interested. "What are you doing here?" he questioned quietly, deciding to just get straight to the point.

"What do you mean? This is my class," Hisana replied with a somewhat confused look.

"Why are you sitting here? With me?" he elaborated. "I'm sure you've already hear that I'm here on scholarship and am from the Rukon District."

"You're here on scholarship?" She repeated with wide eyes. "Impressive! Just how good were your test scores?"

"That's not the point!" he muttered, trying to get back on topic.

"So? I don't care; you and Nori are nice to me," she said. "If you want me to leave, then I'll leave," she added, sounding a little hurt.

"Stay or leave. Do whatever, we don't mind," Byakuya said quickly and looked down at his notes again.

"Thanks," Hisana said, putting on a sincere smile. "I'm going to stay. Besides, I like you better than the others. You don't care about social statuses so you'd just have to accept me for who I am."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach!**

This chapter is actually MY writing & ideas and not Sabathiel's. Enjoy and please tell me what you think. ^^

And thank you for the reviews, ZALXERO, Girls in White Dresses, and Sabathiel.

* * *

><p>As fate would have it, it seemed that Zanjutsu, the most important class of all needed to be an efficient Shinigami, was the one that had everybody Hisana knew in it. The moment she arrived, she was waved down by Natsumi who immediately dragged her to a seat on the bleachers with her brother, Ren, and his friend, Uehara Chiaki. Minutes later, Byakuya and Noriyuki arrived, taking seats together in the back.<p>

The class was small with about thirty people, and their sensei, Mikado, passed around a basket with slips of paper, instructing them all to pick one and keep it closed. Once everybody received their slip, he explained that in order to be an efficient Shinigami, it was necessary to work well in teams and thus announced that the slip of paper would assign them into their permanent mock squads.

Hisana unfolded her slip of paper to see the silhouette of a black butterfly and looked around for someone calling out her symbol. "Looks like you're with me," Ren commented, looking over her shoulder.

"What? You're with Kuchiki-chan! That's not fair!" Natsumi pouted, looking at the black skull on her slip. "Trade with me, quick!"

"I'm with you, Andou-chan," Chiaki responded, pulling the slip from her hands and grinned, effectively destroying any chances of her trading squads. "Lucky, huh?"

"What'd you get?" Noriyuki mumbled to Byakuya, praying to God that they had the same.

"A butterfly, not the same as yours," Byakuya replied with a sigh as he got up to find the rest of his group members. Noriyuki gave Byakuya a 'kill me now' look when he found out he was the third member to Natsumi and Chiaki's group.

"Byakuya-san, I think you're with us," Hisana said, showing him her butterfly slip.

When Byakuya nodded, Ren stuck out his hand to him. "I'm Andou Ren. I look forward to working with you," he said, surprising both Hisana and Byakuya.

"Asahi Byakuya," he answered, as he hesitantly shook Ren's hand. "I look forward to working with you, too."

Noriyuki, however, didn't have that much luck with his group. Upon seeing the black skull on his slip, Natsumi let out a very loud groan, and tried to demand for a group change, spurring Mikado-sensei into a lecture of how a proper Shinigami must be able to work with anybody. Chiaki deadpanned and very seriously asked how old Noriyuki was considering his small stature.

"I'm your age!" he snapped. "I'm just small-boned, so my growth has been rather stunted."

"Oh, you're that Rukongai Ochibi!" Chiaki exclaimed, suddenly recognizing him. "You're in my Hakuda class; my friend came up with that nickname for you. Catchy, huh?"

Natsumi pouted, wondering why on earth Chiaki was getting all friendly the ochibi. Seeing that working with him was inevitable she irritably snapped, "You better pull your own weight around here, seeing as my grade depends on yours. If you get in my way, I'll cut you down without any hesitation!"

"O-okay," Noriyuki stammered, somewhat intimidated by her already.

For the rest of class, Mikado-sensei assigned plain katanas out to each team member, announcing, "You will all use these until you are able to solidify your reiryoku into sword form. For those who already have possession of their zanpakutō, you may use them, but don't even think about releasing it into shikai form."

"Ren-nii already has his own zanpakutō," Natsumi bragged, clearly proud of her brother who upheld the Andou name.

"Already?" Hisana gaped, suddenly feeling somewhat worthless considering she couldn't even solidify her reiryoku, much to the disappointment of Ginrei and Sojun. "Do you already know its name?"

Ren shook his head, "No, she won't tell me yet, so really, I'm not that much ahead."

"That's still very impressive," Byakuya complimented, looking at the plain katana he had been assigned. "Zanpakutō are supposed to be a representation of your soul, aren't they? It must be nice to be able to speak to your other half, already."

"Not really," Ren admitted with a small smile and it seemed that he was actually more easy-going and approachable than he appeared. "My other half is rude and mean-spirited. I wonder what that says about me."

"I think it's because you don't know her name yet," Hisana said honestly. "You two aren't in sync and thus in chaos. I'm sure once you find out her name, she will be more than willing to be your partner."

Ren looked at Hisana thoughtfully as he let her words sink in. "I'm sorry, I don't think I quite understand what you mean."

Hisana blushed at this, looking away as she fumbled with her words as she tried to explain what she meant. To her surprise, Byakuya answered for her. "Zanpakutō aren't just tools; they're your comrades. When you fight, you're not alone, and it'd be wrong to think that it is only you who has to become more powerful. You and your zanpakutō must work as one, and become more powerful together."

"Ah! I understand perfectly! That's a great theory, Kuchiki-san," Ren said and Hisana nodded slowly, glancing to Byakuya who had managed to steal the words from her mouth.

After class had been dismissed, Natsumi immediately latched onto Hisana, exclaiming that she wanted to hang out more. Ren, his sister's keeper, went with them to make sure that Natsumi didn't do anything to sully the Andou name.

Byakuya and Noriyuki chose to return to their dorms and study. As they were on scholarship, they had to keep up their grades otherwise their free ride would be revoked and they would have no way of paying off their tuition, let alone afford new books. Still, they retained their old habits and chose to share one set of books instead of wasting their money with a new, unneeded set. When finished, they turned in for the night, and much to their chagrin, around midnight, someone literally kicked down their door, and stole their belongings. The rather traumatic hazing of the night led to a horrid next morning.

"Byakuya, wake up," Noriyuki groaned, nudging his friend who was leaning on his elbow and drifting in and out of consciousness. "Byakuya, wake up," he persisted, yawning as he too, was also struggling to stay awake. The two had dragged themselves out of their room and to the cafeteria, hoping to overdose on caffeine to make it through the day.

Byakuya jerked awake when Noriyuki pushed at his elbow, causing him to slip and nearly face plant into the table. Glancing to Noriyuki, he softly murmured, "I want to sleep and never wake up again," and then reached for the kettle to pour tea into his cup.

"Too much stress... I'll die from all this stress!" Noriyuki exclaimed dramatically, reaching for the kettle and pouring tea into his own up as well when Byakuya was finished. However, in his foggy consciousness, he missed the cup entirely.

"Oi!" Byakuya snapped, reaching over and tipping the kettle back into a straightforward position before Noriyuki could flood the table. He yanked the kettle from Noriyuki's feeble grasp and poured the tea for him. He mumbled a sleepy 'thank you,' downed the tea like a shot and then began to mop of the table with his sleeve, ignoring the heat of it completely.

"Good morning!" Hisana said cheerfully as she took a seat next to Byakuya. She looked at the two of them and frowned. "Are you guys okay? You kind of look like those zombies from the horror manga I read..."

"Rough night," Byakuya answered simply.

"Rough, _lousy_, night" Noriyuki added. "We were up all night."

"Why? I didn't think we had that much homework," Hisana responded.

"Oh no, it wasn't the homework that kept us up," Byakuya corrected with a shrug.

"Nope, it was the stupid students who trashed our dorm room, and hid half of our stuff around campus," Noriyuki said, trying to be nonchalant. "We were up all night cleaning up and trying to find our stuff while they followed us and mocked us."

"Eh? That's awful!" Hisana exclaimed. "Did you two get any sleep at all?"

"About an hour," Byakuya answered, and covered his mouth as he yawned. He reached for the kettle and poured another cup of tea for himself and took it like a shot, exactly the way Noriyuki did. "We're trying to get a caffeine high to last us through the day."

"Yes, more caffeine..." Noriyuki droned like a zombie as he tried to pour himself some tea. Like before, he missed his cup. "You know, I still haven't found all my stuff. One of our books is still missing! Byakuya and I only have one set to share! And I need that for my next class!"

"Hey!" Hisana gasped, steadying the kettle that Noriyuki was holding. She pulled it from his hands and poured it for him. "We'll find your book later, and you can borrow mine until then. No offense, but you two look horrible."

"Eh, we'll get used to it. Isn't caffeine highs what college is about?" he asked and downed the tea like a shot.

Hisana frowned, tilting her head to the side a little. "Why do you guys do that?" she asked, curiously.

"Do what?" Noriyuki responded, equally curious and confused.

"That," she said, pointing Noriyuki's tea cup and mimicked the motions of him downing it like a shot. "It looks silly. Why don't you drink it the normal way?"

"Define normal," Byakuya answered rhetorically.

Hisana ignored Byakuya and waved her hand over Noriyuki's cup to feel the hot steam waft up against the palm of her hand. "It's really hot. Doesn't it hurt when you do that?"

Noriyuki studied the cup carefully and then looked back at her with a shrug. "I'm immune to the heat and it satisfies my secret wish to play drinking games." Changing the subject, he sarcastically yawned, "Class is going to be just _wonderful_ today."

"Oh, yes, definitely..." Hisana answered. "I'm certainly looking forward to it..."

Nishimura's voice was dull, boring, and monotonous, so Byakuya fell asleep, leaning on his elbow in their Kidō Studies class. Hisana gently prodded at his arm, trying to wake him, so Nishimura wouldn't catch him sleeping and then kick him out of class. Noriyuki, on the other hand, was jittery from his caffeine intake and was twitching as he sat behind Hisana and Byakuya. His hand was shaking and he muttered little swear words every time his notes got scrawled because his hand twitched.

The Hohou class was much better for Hisana since Noriyuki was no longer twitching behind her and Byakuya wasn't falling asleep on her shoulder. She and Ren were attempting to follow Sensei's techniques and movements while Natsumi chattered away about something they both weren't really paying attention to. She was complaining about something and Ren made a few facial expressions and grunts to sound like he was somewhat paying attention. From the corner of her eye, Hisana could see that Byakuya was now awake and paying attention unlike in Kidō Studies.

At lunch, Noriyuki, coming down from his caffeine high, suffered through a brutal beating in his Hakuda class, and then proceeded to curl up into a little ball and fall asleep at the cafeteria table. Byakuya, feeling much better and back to normal, prodded at his lunch as he listened to Noriyuki's snoring and read his Kidō textbook to catch up on what he had slept through.

Hisana had chosen to eat lunch with her other 'friends' and seemed to be a bit bored as Natsumi retold her whining rant to Chiaki and Shigeru Raiden, another one of Ren's friends. They actually paid more attention to Natsumi than she and Ren had, though that was probably only because they were desperate for her attention. It was when Natsumi exclaimed, "And those losers actually stayed up all night trying to find their stuff!" that Hisana piqued an interested in Natsumi's ranting.

"What happened?" She asked, feigning a cute cluelessness. Ren, who also hadn't been paying attention, looked up, also interested on what mess his sister had just caused.

"Oh, Kuchiki-chan," Natsumi said with a giggle. "Chiaki-kun, and Raiden-kun were messing with those Rukon trash, you know, the ones from our Zanjutsu class. We flooded their room and hid their stuff. It was amusing, watching them scramble around, trying to keep their stuff together. Hey, Raiden-kun, tell her your nickname for the little one!"

"Rukongai Ochibi!" he grinned with a laugh.

"Why would you do that...?" Hisana asked, trying to hide her disdain.

"Why not?" Raiden questioned, looking at her with a frown. "They're trash and they don't belong here. They soil our school's reputation and campus. They're better off leaving and returning to where they belong."

Natsumi and Chiaki nodded in agreement to Raiden's words. "Look," Chiaki said, pointing in Byakuya and Noriyuki's direction. "It's bad enough that we have to eat lunch with them in the same room, but to be taught in the same room? It's scandalous and wrong. It's an insult to us nobles to be considered to be on the same level as them. In fact, it is us nobles who fund this school and we pay for it on our own, yet the Academy allows them in on scholarship, giving them a free education."

"He's right, Kuchiki-chan," Natsumi said, sensing Hisana's discomfort on the topic of their conversation. "I've seen you hanging out with them, and you should probably stop. It's bad for your image. What would your father say to that? Or even Kuchiki-taichou, your grandfather?"

"It's not Kuchiki-san's fault that she hangs out with trash," Raiden interjected. "They probably just follow her around because she's nice. How about I get rid of them for you?" he suggested, getting up from their table.

"Wait! What are you doing!" Hisana gasped, quickly getting up to stop him. "This is unnecessary! They haven't done anything to me!"

Her words fell onto deaf ears as Raiden headed straight to Byakuya and gave the sleeping Noriyuki a hard shove so that he tumbled to the floor, jerking awake. "Wake up," he sneered as Chiaki appeared at Raiden's side with a laugh.

"What the hell?" Noriyuki groaned, gingerly touching his temple to nurse his newfound headache that went along perfectly with his aching body.

Byakuya glared at the two nobles and helped Noriyuki up to his feet. "Leave us alone; we've done nothing to you," he said, irritated.

"Don't get mad; it's just a little bit of friendly banter," Chiaki said with a devious grin.

"How is throwing me to the ground considered friendly?" Noriyuki snapped, "And while we're on that topic, how is _beating me up_ in Hakuda friendly?"

"You did what?" Hisana gaped, putting herself between Noriyuki and Chiaki. Come to think of it, Noriyuki did look more than just exhausted from lack of sleep.

"Kuchiki-san, they're ruining you. You don't even have the heart to ask them to leave you alone, so let us do it for you," Chiaki said.

"That's not true!" Hisana interjected. "Enough fighting, please."

"Go away, Hisana," Byakuya muttered. "We're not helpless. We can take care of ourselves without your help."

"See, Kuchiki-san? They cast you away after using you," Raiden said, trying to get her to stop defending them. "Kuchiki-san, they're rats. You shouldn't be associating with them in the first place. You're a disgrace to your family."

Hisana looked at Raiden shocked and somewhat hurt by his words. "That's not true," she said quietly. "They're my friends."

"No, Kuchiki-chan, we're your friends. Not them," Natsumi said, taking Hisana's arm and pulling her back."They're nobody. They're not like us."

"Is it their fault that they're unlucky?" Hisana whispered. "It's not their fault that they were born into the Districts!"

"Kuchiki-san, enough," Ren said with authority as he finally stepped in to stop the conflict that was getting out of hand. "Raiden, Chiaki, leave them alone. You're just soiling your own names with your 'friendly banters'." His two friends looked a little disappointed but they stopped bothering Byakuya and Noriyuki, nonetheless. To everyone's surprise and Natsumi's horror, Ren actually bowed his head down to Byakuya and Noriyuki and apologized on behalf of his friends.

"Come on, Byakuya, let's go," Noriyuki said, hating all the attention that was suddenly put on them, and grabbed his book bag and rushed Byakuya out of the cafeteria as quickly as possible.

"What are you doing?" Natsumi hissed, grabbing Ren's shoulders and pulling him back up so he was standing straight.

To her surprise, Ren turned on her with an upset look. "Natsumi, what do you think you're doing? How dare you shame the Andou name by taking part of their games! You think that because we have attained a higher rank than them that we have the right to tear them down? I don't know if you've realized this, but your 'Rukongai Ochibi' is doing far better than you in your Zanjutsu class because he chooses to work hard and study instead of play around!"

Natsumi looked like she was near tears, having being firmly reprimanded by her older brother in the middle of the cafeteria. Feeling bad for her, and slightly at fault because she was the one who caused it, Hisana boldly put her hand on Ren's shoulder and murmured, "Enough. She's learned her lesson." Seeing that Hisana had come to her defense, Natsumi immediately burst into tears and fled the scene with Chiaki and Raiden hurrying after her in an attempt to win her affections.

"Stay out of this, Kuchiki-san," Ren answered coldly, brushing off her touch. "I hate to say it now, but Natsumi's right; we're your friends. We're the sort of people you should be with, intelligent and well-off. Though they may be talented, they will be nothing but a burden to you. Cut them loose before you get dragged down with them."

"Is this what normalcy is?" she asked quietly, looking down with a frown. "Is it, Andou-san? I have to_ use_ people to get ahead in life and discard anyone who has been deemed weak?"

"Yes, in this world it is," Ren answered sincerely. "Perhaps in another world it is not, but it's not the case here. It's time to accept reality, Kuchiki-san, before someone decides to tell your father of what you do. He'll pull you from the Academy and you'll never attain whatever 'normalcy' you've been seeking for."

"But they're kind," she added, in a last attempt of protest.

"It goes both ways, you know," he sighed. "People who want something will act kind until they get what they want, especially towards you because of what influence you hold over the Seireitei. They will discard you, as you will have discarded them. Kindness will get us nowhere these days."

Hisana bit her lip, hating herself for seeing the truth in Ren's words, but the sad look he had given her before leaving just proved that he too saw the errors in their social system. For now, she would stop fighting back and accept this flawed conclusion. Maybe this really was normalcy: flaunting social statuses and reigning at the top of the social hierarchy with a good-looking, well-off boy like Natsumi had been trying to do. Well, if she wanted normalcy, she might as well give it a try.

* * *

><p>"I hate people," Byakuya said with clear disdain as he and Noriyuki pushed through a flock of students as they tried to make it to their next Studies class. "They walk insanely slow in front of you, and you can't get past them whatsoever," he hissed at some girls walking at the speed of a sprinting snail in front of him. They shot him a glare and moved out of the way with their noses high in the air.<p>

"Some of them aren't so bad. Like Hisana-chan. She's nice," Noriyuki said as he quickly apologized to the girls on Byakuya's behalf. "I mean, sure, her friends kinda suck, but damn, that girl was cute."

"Hisana?" Byakuya questioned.

"No, not Hisana. You like Hisana. I'm talking about her friend," Noriyuki said quickly.

"Since when did I _like_ Hisana?" Byakuya sputtered.

"I dunno, I just thought you called dibs on Hisana. So I can have her then?"

"No!"

"See, you did call dibs on Hisana," Noriyuki scoffed. "But I like her cute friend. The one with the ribbons in her red hair. Natsumi-chan~! She's just as pretty as her name."

"You disgust me," Byakuya muttered. "I thought we established that nobles are foul, half-assed people, and besides, she was with those other idiots when they trashed our dorm."

"Well, Hisana was with those losers when they came shoving me to the floor while I was napping," Noriyuki protested. "But you snapped at her and told her to go away. And why would you send her away? And honestly, Natsumi-chan's brother really isn't that awful either."

"I don't want her help or his. I don't need any nobles pitying on me and trying to make my situation better. I've learned that I can't depend on anybody, and I have to do everything myself. I learned this the hard way, okay," Byakuya snapped, quite unnerved. It was bad enough to have Hisana trying to save them, but to have Ren step in like her knight and _apologize?_

"Are you talking about _her_? Your sister?" Noriyuki asked quietly. The sour expression on Byakuya's face confirmed his thoughts. "That wasn't your fault, man. And our friends in the Districts are going to keep looking for her. After you become a Shinigami, you'll find her in no time!" he said assuringly.

"What if she's dead?" Byakuya answered morbidly.

"Quit being such a pessimist. Rukia is strong just like her big brother so she has to be alive still," Noriyuki said, optimistically. "Lighten up. Everything will get better soon. All we need to do is study hard and whoop those stupid nobles during all those tests. Just imagine the look on their faces when us street rats score better than them. And then you need to hook up with Hisana, and then we can go on double dates! My date would be Natsumi, of course."

"I think you're getting a little bit ahead of yourself," Byakuya said, interrupting him.

"Maybe, but I'm just setting some goals. Who knows, if we work hard, we'll achieve every single one of them," he said cheerfully. "And you'll be reunited with your sister and we'll all live happily ever after!"

"Well, that definitely sounds fun," Byakuya said, somewhat sarcastically. "But you know, this isn't going to be easy."

Noriyuki touched his face, pondering over his thoughts for a moment. "Well, then let's make a promise; by the end of this year, we'll have already made a difference. I don't care how big, but we just need to change something and prove our worth. It won't be easy, but we'll never know unless we really try."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach!**

I'm still mad at myself for accidentally deleting this. It's back up now.  
>Sorry for any troubles.<p>

* * *

><p>After the horribly embarrassing incident, Byakuya chose to avoid Hisana and any other nobles. He made sure to avoid them when moving between classes, though when he was actually in class, that was more of an issue. When she tried to apologize and speak to him in their Kidō Studies class, he quietly brushed her off, pleading for her to just leave him alone so that the others wouldn't get the wrong idea. Zanjutsu was even worse, considering Andou Ren became part of that equation.<p>

Noriyuki, on the other hand, was much kinder, understanding what had happened, and for him, it was already water under the bridge. He was eager to be friends with Hisana again, though she had a feeling that it was only because of his obvious crush on Andou Natsumi. "Are you a masochist?" she asked flatly when he had confided to her.

"No...?" he asked, hesitant and confused. "I think she's pretty."

"Nori-chan! You of all people should know better than to judge by looks!" Hisana admonished, shocked by what he had just said.

"Eh? No! I'm not shallow!" he protested, correcting himself quickly. "I mean, good looks are nice and all, but she's really a nice person beneath all... _that_."

"Nori, this is the same girl who flooded your room and hid your books," she reminded him, wondering he was confiding in her in the first place and if he already had this conversation with Byakuya. Probably not, considering Byakuya wanted nothing to do with nobles at the moment.

"But she returned it! And sincerely apologized!" Noriyuki explained, defending his beloved Natsumi.

"Did she really?" Hisana asked, hearing of this for the first time. Though considering that she had been humiliated in public by her brother, Hisana wouldn't be surprised if Ren was the one to put her up to it. "You sure it wasn't Andou-san who asked her to apologize?"

"Don't know, don't care," Noriyuki answered, preferring to be ignorantly blissful. "All that matters is that she came by personally, asked for me, and then gave my textbook back with such a pretty smile!"

"Good luck with her," Hisana sighed, unsure if she should be feeling bad for Noriyuki or Natsumi.

"Anyways, I wanted to ask you for a favor!" Noriyuki said with a grin.

"Let me guess, you want me to put in a good word for you?" she said, reading him like a book.

"Yeah! Do that for me, and I'll do that for you!" he bargained.

"For me?" Hisana asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"With Byakuya-san? You guys still aren't really talking, right?" Noriyuki clarified. "I mean, I know you really like him, and he's always such a difficult guy to be friends with, but I'll put in a good word for you so you two will make up! Then it'll be all nice again since my two best friends will start talking with each other!"

"Best friend?" Hisana asked, those words the only ones seeming to register. "You consider me to be your best friend?"

"Of course," Noriyuki answered sincerely. "You're really nice and you're the only one who doesn't make fun of my height."

"Byakuya-san makes fun of your height, too?" Hisana laughed, unable to picture Byakuya in a joking manner.

"Yeah, that jerk does," Noriyuki sighed as he rolled his eyes. "But really, I consider you to be a very good friend, if not my best."

"Thanks, I guess you're my best friend, too," she replied, and Nori had a feeling that she didn't have that many to begin with, just like him. If anything, Hisana was just glad that he was still willing to talk to her.

About a month later, during her Hohou class, a messenger arrived, and interrupted the class, stating that Kuchiki Hisana was to report to the main offices completely. Confused, she quickly packed her bags and Natsumi, being nosy as usual, pestered her friend on why she had to leave early. Ren rolled his eyes, finding his sister a little bit too nosy for her own good.

"What have you done, Kuchiki-chan?" Natsumi asked curiously. "I wonder if it is Kuchiki-taichou? Didn't you say that he wasn't well lately?"

"I have no idea, actually," Hisana admitted, a bit worried on what news she would receive. "And I don't think I've done anything wrong either."

"Perhaps they want to move Kuchiki-chan up a year," Natsumi gushed. "Kuchiki-chan is so brilliant after all!"

Hisana raised an eyebrow at Natsumi's choice of words before shaking it off. It seemed that the girl's feeling for her had moved past adoration to practically one of worship. "Ah, well, I suppose I'll have to go and find out." She nodded to the siblings and headed off out of class, swearing that she saw Byakuya look worried for her wellbeing.

"Um, excuse me, I was called out of class..." Hisana murmured as she looked around the office.

"Sana-chan~!" a male voice called out as a hand reached out and ruffled her hair affectionately.

"Shiba-fukutaichou!" Hisana exclaimed with a gasp as she stared at him with wide eyes.

"Oi, it's 'Kaien-nii' to you!" he corrected with a fake glare.

Hisana looked at him, horrified. "Nii-san? Are you kidding me? It was bad enough when you made me call you 'Taichou'!" She sighed with a huff and looked at him with a frown. Shiba Kaien was the eldest son of one of the other Noble Houses and he was truly one of Hisana's _real_ friends. He was kind, smart and funny and she absolutely adored him in the older brother sense. That's all the two of them really were. Hisana had always wanted an older protective brother and Kaien had always wanted a sweet little sister who wanted to be protected (which Kukaku was most certainly not). "What are you doing here anyways, Kaien-dono?" she asked curiously.

Kaien smiled and looked at her with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I'm here to pick you up, Hisana."

She looked at him baffled. "You are the one who called me out of class?"

"Of course, dear," he answered smugly. "I have a day off today, so I decided I wanted to spend it with you. Knowing you, you'd never skip class, so then I decided to check you out myself! Let's go. I haven't had breakfast yet."

Hisana looked at him with a suspicious frown. "You'd rather spend your day off with _me_ rather than your pretty girlfriend?"

"My pretty girlfriend didn't get a day off, smarty pants," Kaien answered. "Sana-chan," he whined playfully, "Please? It'll be our little secret."

Hisana sighed and gave in. "Alright, but _nobody_ hears of this or I'll get you demoted, Lieutenant!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Kaien said cheerfully, offering to carry her bag for her and then headed to a small breakfast place. "So, how's class? As boring as I remember it to be?"

"Even more boring than you remember it to be," she answered with a sigh. "How's Gotei Thirteen? Is it as amazing as I dream it to be?"

"Yes, right until you get to the paperwork," he replied with a grin as he began to dig into his breakfast of rice porridge, grilled fish and green tea. "So, you make in friends in that school?"

"Um, a few, I guess," she answered uncomfortably.

Kaien stopped eating to squint at her suspiciously. "Sana-chan, did you make any _real_ friends?"

"Two boys, I guess, but they're from Rukongai. Despite that, they're amazingly talented," she said with a sigh. "They're not really talking to me right now. Well, one of them is; the other isn't. Some other nobles in the class were bullying of them because of me, so he doesn't want to associate with me anymore. I guess it's my fault, too. I'm avoiding them so that nobody will tell my father."

"Would you rather go back to your private tutor?" he asked seriously.

"No, never," Hisana said firmly. "I'm happy at school. And some of the other nobles aren't really that bad. Andou-san is distant, but he's shown his good side to me, and Natsumi-chan compliments me a lot."

"Kiss ass," Kaien said through a cough.

Hisana gaped at him when he cussed. It was rather endearing whenever she did that. "Kaien-dono! They're really not a bad lot."

"But you like those Rukon boys better, right?" Kaien asked, reading her like a children's book. "You know I would say screw them all and go be friends with them. Any chance Sana-chan has a _crush_ on one of them?" he asked teasingly.

"WHAT?" she gasped, turning several shades of scarlet. "You can't be serious! They're just the normalcy I want in life! You're insane!"

Kaien burst into a fit of rich laughter at her reaction, stopping with a delighted sigh. "Hisana, you can't let these nobles control you. As a Noble Family, you must stand tall and strong and hold your head high. You are a Kuchiki, Hisana, and you will hold a lot of influence over the Soul Society. A lot of people are going to want to get close to you, but it's your job to find the ones who are sincere."

"That's easy for you to say," Hisana muttered. "You're the successful male head of your family who was a genius prodigy. I'm the worthless daughter of a man who let down his family and by the way, I'm seriously struggling through my Zanjutsu class!"

"You're _not_ worthless," Kaien said seriously, disturbed by her lack of self-esteem. "You are going to amount to great things one day, Hisana, and if you don't make your father proud, then just remember that I will _always_ be proud of you."

"Thanks, Kaien-nii," she replied, thinking it would be right to call him brother at times like this.

"Now, about that Zanjutsu class," he said, changing the topic. "If Yoruichi-sama was still here, she'd be so upset!" he said with a feigned air of shame. "What would she if she came back and got a good look at you?"

"She'd only want to torture me some more," Hisana answered with a grimace, recalling those torturous games of tag with the demon cat.

Kaien laughed loudly at this, and reached over to fondly muss up her hair. "And I think after playing, she'd want to get some drinks."

"I can't drink," she reminded him. "My father would be upset," she added softly making Kaien wince.

"Your father strongly disapproves of almost everything. "What about your grandfather?"

"He's always working. He doesn't care what I do until the day I become his lieutenant," she said uneasily. "They want me to surpass him one day and be the captain of the sixth company. How am I supposed to do that, Kaien-dono?"

"I have faith in you," Kaien said with a warm smile. "And by that time, I'll be a captain too and I will take you beneath my wings. You don't have to worry about anything."

"Thank you, Kaien-dono," Hisana said sincerely. His warm words always seemed to calm her rattled nerves. "Hey, Kaien-dono, how is Miyako-chan?" she asked, changing the topic to something livelier.

Kaien flushed red and attempted to change the subject, but Hisana remained adamant about knowing about his love life. "Ahh, Miyako-chan is the best!" he said, defeated.

"Are you going to marry her?" Hisana asked enthusiastically.

"EH? What kind of question is that?" he gasped, shocked by her forwardness.

"Well? Are you? You've been with her for years now! The next is marriage, isn't it?" she chirped.

"Maybe," he answered firmly. "Not yet. I'm not ready to get married just yet."

"You're no fun," she said with a pout.

"Oh? What about you, Sana-chan? How many suitors have you had since you've arrived at school? I'm sure one of those nobles thinks my little Hisana is cute," he reiterated, making her blush.

"Don't be silly. I'm not in school to get a boyfriend. I'm there for an education," she reminded him as a matter-of-factly.

"Good," Kaien said firmly. "And if you get a boyfriend, you let me know so I can play 'overprotective brother' with him, got it?"

"You're funny," she said with a giggle.

"Anything for my little sister," he replied.

* * *

><p>After dropping Hisana off, Kaien snuck off quickly, not wanting to be sighted by her pretentious father and get her into even more trouble. On his way back to the Thirteenth Company's barracks, he encountered two boys hiding behind one of the buildings in the Seireitei wearing Academy uniforms. The shorter of the two seemed to be practicing kido, only to fail quite miserably. The taller one was sitting and reading from a book, carefully instructing the shorter one on how to control his spiritual pressure correctly. Kaien hovered behind, watching them carefully now that they seemed to have piqued his curiosity.<p>

"I can't get this!" Noriyuki said, extremely upset.

"Try again," Byakuya said patiently. "Would it help if you read the incantation directly out of the textbook instead of trying to memorize it?"

"No," Noriyuki said with a growl. "We have to be able to memorize it for our exams." Taking a deep breath, he opted to try again. "_Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! _Hadō 31: _Shakkahō!_" A red ball of his spiritual energy began to form in his hands only to spontaneously combust.

Byakuya sighed as Noriyuki unwittingly set himself on fire with his own spiritual energy. "At least you got the incantation right," he said, trying to offer his friend some positive words on encouragement.

"Bite me!" Noriyuki snapped, putting out the fire on his sleeve. Byakuya got up from where he was sitting and used a _Keikatsu _healing kido on his friend's burn. "Show-off! Since when were you so good at kido?" He was about to shout some more until Byakuya so _rudely_ shushed him.

"Who's there?" Byakuya called out, immediately on his guard. "Show yourself." Kaien winced and stepped out, hands in the air showing surrender. Byakuya frowned at the lieutenant's badge he sported. "What is a lieutenant doing, spying on two students?" he inquired.

"Oi! If he's a lieutenant, show some respect!" Noriyuki snapped, hitting Byakuya in the back of the head. "I apologize on his behalf."

Instead of punishing them like they thought he would, Kaien burst into a fit of laughter. "Ahh, I'm off-duty. I was watching you guys practice. You're really good, you know."

"You mean him, don't you?" Noriyuki asked flatly, pointing at Byakuya.

"No, no. Both of you," Kaien answered sincerely. "Sure it failed, but we all learn from our failures, don't we? See, your friend got to practice his healing kido on you because you hurt yourself. You two really do have potential." He offered his hand politely. "By the way, I'm Shiba Kaien."

"Asahi Byakuya," his friend answered coolly, looking away from Kaien.

Noriyuki's mouth dropped open as he stammered, "Matsuda Noriyuki! I know who you are! You're the genius prodigy who finished the Academy's six year academy in just two years!"

"Guilty as charged," Kaien said with a soft chuckle at his newly acquired admirer. "I have to ask, why are you two here in the middle of nowhere when the school has training grounds especially for your practice?" Kaien asked curiously with a frown.

"We don't get to use it," Byakuya said quickly, not wanting to elaborate. "There's always _others_ there..."

"He means the nobles who don't think we're good enough to share a training compound with them," Noriyuki clarified. "We're from Rkuongai."

Kaien frowned, suddenly remembering two boys from the Rukon that Hisana mentioned. "You know a Kuchiki Hisana by any chance?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Who doesn't?" Byakuya answered coldly. "She's nothing but trouble."

"Eh? That's not true," Noriyuki corrected quickly. "She's really sweet and super nice. It's thanks to her that the harrassment isn't that bad anymore."

"You two just don't want a girl to fight your battles for you, huh?" Kaien asked, knowing exactly how a male's pride worked. "Look, give her a second chance. I'm sure she just wants to be a normal student without the status. It's not fair that people judge _you_ by your status and it's the same for her, too. You guys are a lot more similar than you realize," he said wisely. "Anyways, I have to leave, but I was serious. You two really do have a lot of potential. I look forward to the day you two will be serving the Gotei Thirteen." With that said, Kaien gave a friendly wave and then headed off leaving Noriyuki baffled.

"Oh my god! A lieutenant thinks we're good! I think I've just found my motivation to practice more!" Noriyuki said cheerfully, ego and pride swelling up immensely. "Byakuya, why are you so sour? You should be glad of his compliment. He's a noble, you know? Isn't that proof that all nobles aren't bad?"

"Don't judge by status," Byakuya murmured, repeating Kaien's advice and thinking of Hisana. When Noriyuki gave him a questioning look, he quickly shrugged it off. "Nothing, go back to practicing. I'll be able to practice my healing spells then..."

The next day, Byakuya immediately apologized to Hisana and Ren when he met up with them in Zanjutsu. He explained that he was sorry for his behavior and shouldn't have held a grudge when they were just trying to help. "Ah, Byakuya-san, you don't have to worry about it. All is well," Hisana answered with a blush, wondering why he had such a change of heart all of a sudden.

"Thank you for your apology, but Kuchiki-san is right," Ren said with a nod.

"Greetings, class!" Mikado-sensei shouted as he arrived into the training compound with a large length of rope and several assistants behind him bringing in cinder blocks. "As you know, in my Zanjutsu class, we not only hone our techniques, but we also learn how to work efficiently in a team! Thus, today will be a team bonding exercise!"

Grabbing the two closest teams to him, one of which was Noriyuki's, he aligned them face to face in a single aisle and passed along the rope. "Tug of war! It's a common game that everybody knows right? And we all know that tug of war is usually based on strength, right?" When the two nervous teams nodded in front of him, he let out a laugh and designated his assistants to give a cinder block to each team member. Refusing to clarify on his previous statement, he continued on with the exercise's instructions. "Each team member is going to stand on a block, and tug on the rope. The last team standing on their blocks win. Easy enough."

"Alright, just pull as hard as you can and as fast as you can," Chiaki said as he passed down the rope to his teammates.

"Actually, I don't think that would be a good idea," Noriyuki commented with a frown as he reconsidered Sensei's odd laugh.

"Don't be silly! This is a game of strength so whoever pulls the fastest will win!" Natsumi explained, rolling her eyes as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Ready? Go!" Mikado-sensei shouted when both teams had situated themselves on their cinderblocks. Immediately, Natsumi and Chiaki began to tug on the ropes hard, while Noriyuki did it halfheartedly, still trying to come up with a different way of winning. Unfortunately, the other team had the same idea and tugged on the rope with their full strength. Since three outnumbered two, Natsumi and Chiaki toppled from their blocks before Noriyuki even realized what was going on.

"Oh, crap," he swore, realizing he was the only one left standing and then was immediately yanked off by the sheer strength of the other team in a matter of seconds.

"What is wrong with you?" Natsumi shouted at him when they went to sit out. "All you had to do was pull the stupid rope! Was that really such a difficult task?"

"That wasn't supposed to be a game of strength!" Noriyuki shouted back at her, a bit upset that they hadn't bothered to even listen to his suggestions. "You can't win that game simply by pulling the _fastest_."

Chiaki laughed at the sudden boldness Noriyuki developed. "Ha! Maybe Ochibi was right. You should speak up next time!"

"There isn't going to be a next time!" Natsumi growled, glaring at him. "Didn't I tell you that I'd cut you down if you got in my way?"

"Actually, you're in _my_ way," Noriyuki snapped at her, wondering just how had he fallen for her. Just where had her nice side disappeared off to? Maybe she had a personality disorder. Or maybe he really was a shallow person.

Ren couldn't help but to chuckle at his sister's misfortunes, causing Mikado-sensei to turn his attention (read: wrath) onto him and his team. "Ah, Andou, how nice that you've volunteered you and your team to go next! You'll see that it's not so easy."

"Andou-san," Hisana softly whined, not liking the idea of having to go next already.

"Don't worry, Kuchiki-san? We're a good team, aren't we?" Ren said, trying to reassure her.

"We'll see," Byakuya answered, also miffed that they had to go next. As they settled themselves on the blocks, Byakuya quickly directed Hisana to switch places with Ren so that she could be in the middle of them and their strength would be balanced. They obliged, finding no problems with his theory.

"Oh, god," Hisana sighed, realizing that the team they were competing with was completely comprised of males. The challenge hadn't even started yet and she was already bringing her team down.

"Pull harder?" Byakuya suggested.

"We'll pull harder to make up for you, too" Ren added.

"Ready? Go!" Mikado-sensei said, starting the next match.

Immediately, all three began pulling hard on the rope and was met with an opposition. Hisana, surprised by how strong the other team, tipped forward, almost losing her balance if Byakuya hadn't reached out and pulled her back to her feet by the back of her uniform. "Thank you," she said, glad that he was looking out for her. She immediately went back to pulling after making sure she didn't mess with Ren's sense of balance.

Byakuya glanced back, noting how much slack in the rope they had been given. He recalled Noriyuki and Sensei's words and suddenly realized just why this game wasn't meant to be one of strength. "Stop pulling."

"Eh?" Hisana and Ren gasped, confused on why Byakuya would ask them to do that.

"Just trust me; we're going to win this," he answered, being sure to grab the end of the rope.

Hisana shrugged, and then nodded, deciding that Byakuya wouldn't have thrown the match so easily. Ren, troubled and hesitant, only let go when Hisana went along with it. The rope slipped through their fingers immediately, and Byakuya made sure to catch the end of it to ensure their victory. The other team, caught off guard by the lack of an opposing force, was propelled backwards and off their blocks as they fell over in confusion.

"Congratulations," Mikado-sensei said, beaming with pride. "Though usually this game is meant to be one of strength, this was one based on cleverness and whether or not you could work together as a team to catch the other off-guard. Good thinking, Asahi."

"Yes! That was amazing, Byakuya-san!" Hisana complimented. "I would never think of gaining victory that way!"

"Eh! Kuchiki-chan! You're bleeding!" Natsumi exclaimed, grabbing Hisana's hand to inspect it.

"Oh...? Oh!" Hisana yelped, pulling away. "It must have been rope burn from the exercise," she said, and made a move to wipe her hand off on her hakama.

To her surprise, Ren stopped her, catching her wrist before she could do so. "I have a handkerchief," he said.

"Ah, that's not really necessary, Andou-san. I can take care of it when I get home," she protested.

"No, please, I insist," he said, pulling the flimsy fabric out of his pocket to turn it into a makeshift bandage.

However, to everyone's surprise, Byakuya boldly caught hold of Hisana's wrist and tugged her to him before Ren could clean her hand. "Just use kidō; it's faster," he stated and used the same _Keikatsu_ healing spell he had practiced numerous times on Noriyuki.

"Ah! Thank you!" Hisana said, seeing that her hand was as good as new. "That's a really handy kidō to know."

"Yes, that's very impressive," Ren answered, clenching his fist around the handkerchief.

"Thanks?" Byakuya replied, unsure if that was meant to be a compliment or not. Though judging from Ren's tone, it was obvious that he overstepped some kind of line and had just incurred his wrath.

After class, Noriyuki quickly caught up to Byakuya with a troubled look. "Oi, what the hell was that back there?"

"What was what?" Byakuya asked, trying to feign cluelessness. Unfortunately, that was something he never was good at, and Noriyuki knew him too well for games like that.

"Don't play stupid. '_Just use kidō; it's faster!'_ That! What the hell was that?" Noriyuki asked. "Are you trying to steal Hisana-chan from Andou-san?"

"I'm not! I don't know why I did it. I just did," Byakuya snapped at him. "I'm not trying to steal her from him."

"Lies," Noriyuki spat. "You're either too stupid or stubborn to admit that you have feelings for her."

"What does it matter if I do?" Byakuya answered, agitated. "I can't hold a candle to someone like Andou Ren! He can give her the world! I can't and I will never be able to do that. I'm better off alone."

"So you're giving up? Just like that?" Noriyuki clarified, unsure if he should believe the words coming out of his mouth. "You're going to give up without even trying?"

"Yes," he answered firmly. "There can't be anything if there was nothing to start with."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach!**

Uh, crap, sorry. I uploaded a Ch. 4 by mistake earlier when I was actually just editing a past chapter. Clicked the wrong thing, wasn't paying attention. In my embarrassment, I hurried up and finished writing this one. Sorry for the trouble/confusion.

* * *

><p>When the first of the exams were over with, Byakuya and Noriyuki frowned when crowds of students were gathered outside of their classrooms. "What's going on?" Noriyuki asked, stopping one of the girls at the edge of the crowd.<p>

"Class rankings!" she exclaimed. "It's how they choose who gets to attend the elite class next year!"

"Elite class?" he asked, hoping she would clarify.

Seeing that she wouldn't be getting to the rankings page anytime soon, she sighed and turned on him. "The students with the highest test scores and averages are given the opportunity to apply to participate in an elite accelerated program for the rest of their career at Shino. These are the people who have what it takes to become seated officers, and maybe even lieutenants and captains!" With that said, she dived back into the crowd, trying to see her class ranking.

Byakuya and Noriyuki, not ones who liked to have their personal space rudely invaded, decided they would be better off looking at the rankings the next day when it had considerably cleared and then made their way to their Zanjutsu class.

"Congratulations," Ren said when Byakuya joined him and Hisana.

"Er, thanks but what for?" he asked, clearly confused.

"You're number one for the Zanjutsu ranking in our class," Hisana said, "Have you not looked at the pages at all?"

"It was a little crowded," he answered sheepishly, surprised that he had managed to do so well. "What was your rank?"

"Number two," Ren answered with what appeared to be a sour expression. Clearly, he hadn't liked being overthrown from his position as number one.

"Fourteen..." Hisana answered quietly, knowing that her father would kill her for not making it into the top ten at least.

"Don't worry about it, Kuchiki-san, you're with the top two students. You'll improve in no time," Ren assured her. "And in exchange, you can help me with Kidō. I didn't do so well in that class. Didn't you do well?"

"Ah, I did alright," she answered modestly. "I only excelled in Hohou, though," she stated, knowing that she only did so well thanks to the repeated harassment of a demon cat by the name of Shihouin Yoruichi during her pre-Academy training years. She was secretly glad that those torturous games of tag paid off somehow, though she's sure that she'll be forever traumatized by that woman.

"It's still better than me," Ren answered with a smile. He was about to propose that they get together for study sessions, but was suddenly interrupted by a shriek as his upset sister stormed into the training dojo, ready to kill somebody.

"You!" She shouted, "How dare you uproot me!" For a moment, Byakuya wondered if she was speaking to him, but much to everyone's surprise, she turned on Noriyuki with a look that showed she was out for blood. "You make us fail every team exercise, yet you managed to outdo me in Zanjutsu? It's your fault that I'm not in the top five!"

"Even Nori and Natsumi-chan outdo me in Zanjutsu..." Hisana mumbled, feeling like a failure, concluding that Noriyuki must have been number five and Natsumi number six.

"Hey, don't sweat it," Ren said, patting her shoulder. "Chiaki is in the bottom ten. At least you're in the top half. As I was saying, I'll help you train if you'd like."

Byakuya raised an eyebrow at this, feeling that he should step in and offer her help as well, but held his tongue, deciding that it would be better off for Ren to do so. As he told Noriyuki, he never had much of a chance with her to begin with.

After class, instead of going with Ren and Natsumi, Hisana chose to escape to the Thirteenth Company's barracks in an attempt to avoid her father and delay her class rankings to him. Whenever the pressure was too much and it became too difficult to breathe, she would always escape there for a moment of solace. The Thirteenth Company is beautiful and calming and the people are wonderful. Her beloved Kaien is there, ready to coax her out of her shy shell and destroy whatever morals she had been raised with. Beautiful Miyako-sama is elegant and generous, always there to offer her wise words and keep Kaien in check. Fourth seats, Kiyone and Sentaro, are the siblings she's never had and always ready to cheer her up and play. Captain Ukitake is kind and fatherly, giving her words of praise and encouragement for the little things that her own father doesn't even give. They're her family and she holds each and every one of them close to her heart.

Besides the people, Hisana had always liked the pond by Captain Ukitake's Rain Dry Hall, and the koi fish that live in it. She knew that the koi fish were actually hers from the Kuchiki manor, and she had wracked her brain for a legit explanation of just _how_ they've made it to the Thirteenth barracks. It had caused her much strife, seeing that her fish had been disappearing, but after finding them safe in Ukitake's pond, her mind has been at peace.

When she went there that day and confessed her failures to Kaien, he laughed, fondly mussing up her hair as he did so. "You're mad because of one lousy ranking? You said you made top ten in the other classes."

"Father won't care about the other classes when he hears about me being number _fourteen_," she pointed out, still worrying over it. "Even Byakuya-san and Nori-chan managed to do better than me. Byakuya-san's number one! At this rate, it's more like _I'm_ the one being the burden and holding them back!"

Kaien laughed at her reaction, shaking his head as he did so. "Sana-chan, that's just only the first round of tests, and they're not even midterms or finals. You have at the most six years of this and plenty of time to improve. Do you think I was number one in all my rankings?"

"You _had_ to have been. Don't think I didn't forget that you finished a six year curriculum in just two years," she replied with a frown at Kaien's failed attempt at comforting her.

"Alright then, how about Kiyone and Sentaro? Do they look like they'd be placing in the top ten to you?" he teased, pointing to his two fourth seats who were fighting over who was most loyal to Ukitake. "No, not really, right?" he asked, coaxing a smile from her as he nudged her cheek.

"What am I supposed to tell my father? Or my grandfather?" Hisana asked nervously.

Kaien thought about it seriously before arriving to his brilliant conclusion. "You don't."

"Eh? You want me to _lie_ to them?" she gaped, realizing that Kaien was probably a bad influence on her which was why Kuchiki Sojun harbored great disdain for this man.

"When you say like that it sounds bad..." he answered with a soft chuckle. "Just wait until the next round of exams and tell him your improved rankings then."

"You're hopeless," she answered, knowing that she would have to do things herself.

"If he kills you, I promise to avenge your death, dear sister!" Kaien promised with a huge grin.

"You'll have to avenge Kaien-fukutaichou first if keeps putting off his paperwork," Miyako added with perfect timing as she passed them by and shot a chiding look towards him.

"Miyako-san! The world needs more love and less paperwork!" he complained, stretching.

"Seriously, when are you going to marry her?" Hisana asked in a hushed tone when Miyako had left.

"Mind your own business!" Kaien sputtered with a blush, clearly flustered by the question.

That same night, Hisana quietly confessed to her grandfather and father of her class rankings. "I placed fourth in Hohou," she said, earning an approving nod from them.

"Looks like those games with Yoruichi-san paid off," Ginrei said fondly. "What else?"

"Sixth in Kidō, and ninth in Hakuda," she continued nervously.

"You could do better in Hakuda," Sojun commented. "And Zanjutsu?"

"Um," Hisana started nervously as she cast her gaze down. "Fourteenth..." she said in the smallest voice she could muster.

"Fourteenth?" Ginrei repeated with a surprised look. Sojun stared at her, speechless.

"I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed quickly. "I'll train so much harder and study more! Andou-san, who placed second, said that he'd help me personally, so I promise I'll be in the top ten by the next round of tests!" she proclaimed, rattling off a string of promises.

Much to her surprise, the only thing that registered with Sojun was, "Andou-san...? As in Andou Ren?"

"Yes?" she replied, frowning at this. Ginrei, realizing what had piqued his son's interest, let out a small snort and shook his head disapprovingly. "Father? Is something the matter" she asked, wondering what on earth was going on.

"No, nothing is the matter," Sojun answered. "I'll let you off this time, but just be sure to better for your next set of tests."

Hisana stared at him dumbfounded and glanced over to Ginrei with a pleading look, hoping he would be able to explain what was going on to her. Frankly, her father wasn't one to let her off the hook, so something had to be wrong. Ginrei shrugged in response, deciding to stay out of this one. "I think you'd be better off focusing on your Zanjutsu instead of what Sojun is thinking," he remarked. Even if he was head of the family, Hisana was not his daughter, and thus, he had little say in what Sojun wanted for her for.

When she told Kaien about what had happened, he made the exact same face Ginrei did, and thoughtfully chose out his words before saying, "At least he didn't rip you a new one."

Hisana gasped at his crude language, choosing to hit him in the arm, hard, and frowned. "Kaien-dono, tell me what you know!"

"Sana-chan, I know you're sweet and innocent, but surely you're not _that_ oblivious," he answered hesitantly. "Right?"

"Stop it! Just tell me already," she pleaded.

Kaien bit his lip, trying to find his way out of it. Lucky for him, he did find his reason out and laughed sheepishly as he placed his hands onto her shoulders and turned her around away from him. "We'll talk about this another time; I have an important meeting with somebody now."

"Eh?" she asked, confused and wondering why he was turning her away now of all times. He had never done so in the past. "But Kaien-dono!"

"Forgive me? I'll make it up to you," he promised, and headed off to meet with _Byakuya_? Kaien was cheerful and playful towards him as always, but Byakuya seemed rather flustered.

"Why is he here...?" Hisana asked with Kiyone and Sentaro curiously.

"Ah, that must be Asahi-kun!" Kiyone answered.

"Kaien-fukutaichou found him," Sentaro added. "He's supposedly quite skilled, especially for someone originating from Rukongai."

"He is," she answered to Sentaro's statement. "He placed first in the Zanjutsu class rankings."

"Wow!" Kiyone exclaimed, "He must be a genius! Kaien-fukutaichou must be trying to recruit him early! He was supposed to have a friend with him, though..."

"Matsuda Noriyuki?" Hisana clarified, already dreading the answer.

"Yeah, that's him," Sentaro replied. "You know him, too?"

"Yes, they're both in my classes. I heard Nori injured himself in his kidō class today," she explained hastily, wondering why on earth Kaien was trying to recruit them.

Kaien then turned his attention to her and the other fourth seats and quickly waved them over. Hisana looked at them confused, wondering why he was calling her to him, but Kiyone and Sentaro darted away quickly, pretending to have not been eavesdropping at all and went back to fighting over who loved Ukitake-taichou more.

"Hello," she said shyly to Byakuya.

"Hello," he answered back politely.

"How is Nori?" she asked, finding the lack of his presence a bit depressing.

"Recovering," he answered dryly. "It's a miracle he didn't injure himself worse."

"I wish a him a speedy recovery then," Hisana replied with a soft smile and _almost_ missed the suspicious glance Kaien shoots her.

"Byakuya-san, you should help Sana-chan in Zanjutsu. It's your job as her teammate, isn't it?" The lieutenant suddenly interrupted.

Hisana blushed bright red, quickly protesting, "It's not necessary! I can manage fine on my own, and Andou-san already said he'd help," she stammered, making quick excuses.

Byakuya stiffened at the mention of Ren, and tried to back out. Unfortunately for the both of them, Kaien was persistent. "Sana-chan, Byakuya-san said he's not doing so well in Hohou. That's your _favorite_ class, isn't it? You can help each other out! And I know the both of you are excelling in kidō so you can help Nori-kun, too!"

Hisana oh-so wanted beat Kaien up right at that moment, but it's unladylike and she knows that she stands no chance against a male soldier twice her size. At least she could dream. Instead, she shot him a very nasty look and said in her sweetest voice, "Kaien-dono, didn't Miyako-sama threaten to hurt you today if you didn't finish your paperwork that was due two weeks ago?"

Byakuya stepped back, sensing the tension between the two and tried to make his escape. "I should get going..." he murmured.

"No, wait!" Kaien and Hisana exclaimed at the same time. Hisana blushed and backed off as Kaien grabbed Byakuya by the shoulder and pulled him back.

"Listen, I was serious about what I said earlier," Kaien told him, reverting back to a serious tone. "Think about it."

Byakuya nodded and thanked him before turning away and leaving. "What did you offer him?" Hisana asked, curiously, still wondering why Kaien had such an interest in Byakuya.

"None of your business, nosy miss," he answered teasingly and waved her away. "Go catch up with him," he said affectionately. "You can thank me later."

"Wait, Kaien-dono, I still need to talk to you!" she protested desperately.

"Later," he promised, shooing her away.

Hisana scowled, but followed Byakuya back to his dorm. "How do you know Kaien-dono?" she asked, catching up to him and feeling oddly left out.

Byakuya shrugged and nonchalantly answered, "I don't. I just met him."

"But he's taken an interest in you!" she protested. "He's lazy! He takes interest in nobody!"

"He took an interest in you," he pointed out, looking at her with a raised brow.

Realizing that she wasn't going to get an answer out of him, she reluctantly dropped the topic. "It's different. He doesn't pay attention to me the way he does to you. You're obviously special, so be nice to him, okay?"

"Noted," Byakuya answered, still trying to make his leave.

"Um!" she called out, trying to get him to stay just a little longer. "Tomorrow, would you help me with Zanjutsu? I'll help you with Hohou and Nori-chan with Kidō."

Byakuya looked taken back by her request, and nodded slowly. "Um, sure," he answered, almost shyly. "Tomorrow then."

"Yes, tomorrow," she said agreeably.

When Byakuya returned to his dorm, Noriyuki frowned and very seriously asked, "What happened?"

"Nothing," he replied quickly, looking away.

"What did you do?" Noriyuki asked with a frown as he got up from his bed with a wince. He had unwittingly set himself on fire (again) and this time, Byakuya wasn't there to put it out. Seeing the way that Byakuya was trying to avoid making eye contact with him, Noriyuki gasped with realization and flopped back onto his bed. "You're stealing Hisana-chan from Andou-san again!"

"I did nothing!" Byakuya protested. "She asked _me_ for help. You're coming, too, by the way."

"Oh, great, just what I need," Noriyuki said sarcastically. "I hate being the third wheel and you know it!"

"It's not a date," he reasoned. "I already told you, there's nothing between Hisana and me. And it can't possibly be a date if you're there."

"This is going to go wrong in _so_ many ways," Noriyuki muttered, already becoming more of a pessimist since arriving to the Academy.

And unfortunately, Noriyuki was right as the moment Zanjutsu class finished, Andou Ren charmingly said, "Kuchiki-san, do you want to come home with me today? I'll help you with your Zanjutsu in exchange for a little help in Kidō."

"Ah, Andou-san, I'm actually helping Byakuya-san and Nori-chan today," she said, glancing to him, "But, um, why don't we just have a big study group together?"

_"I told you so!_" Noriyuki mouthed to Byakuya with a frown. Deciding to try and save himself, he forced a smile and said, "Actually, uh, something came up that—"

"Ren, is Kuchiki-chan coming to study with us today?" Natsumi interrupted.

"—That I can totally skip out on since it's not important _at all_. Count me in; I'll join you guys," Noriyuki grinned, and received a look of disgust from Byakuya.

"Oh, I didn't realize that there would be more people coming," Natsumi commented, looking around to see if she could rope Chiaki to coming with so she wouldn't have to be stuck with Noriyuki alone. (Un)Fortunately, he had already left in a rush, so it would only be them two from their team.

"Well, it's settled then!" Ren said quickly, effectively stopping Natsumi from escaping. "We can go to our home then; we have a dojo we can train in."

"Andou-san, are you sure?" Hisana asked, feeling like she was intruding. "We can always rent out one of the Academy's training dojos for a time slot."

"Nonsense!" Natsumi replied, starting to play the dutiful hostess. "You can come to our home. _All_ of you. It'll be no problem at all."

"I can already see so many problems with this..." Byakuya muttered quietly to Noriyuki.

"Really? I think this is a perfect idea," he replied dreamily.

"Masochist..." Byakuya muttered under his breath as Natsumi led them to what he expected Hell would be like.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach!**

Hm, after reading over this, I realized this chapter is definitely Ren/Hisana.  
>I'll have to make it up to Byakuya in the next chapter. ^^;<p>

Quick notes: the Zanjutsu technique Ren uses on Hisana is _Attaco di Squalo_ from Katekyo Hitman Reborn.  
>Also used some lines from Ga-Rei Zero in explaining the Andou's beliefs.<p>

Thank you, ZALXERO, Girls in White Dresses, thayet9 and Sabathiel for reviewing!

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><p>The Andou manor, though not as large as the Kuchiki's, did well in showing off its nobility. It was large with a beautiful courtyard garden, stylish furniture in the main residence and neatly organized in the training compound. What Hisana liked best was the Andou's courtyard garden, thinking it to be even more beautiful than hers and couldn't help but to linger behind and take in the sight.<p>

"Do you like it, Kuchiki-chan?" Natsumi asked, pausing and waiting for Hisana to catch up.

"Yes, it's lovely," she answered with a smile as Natsumi and Ren led the study group to the Andou training compound which took place just outside of the main residence. "That large tree? It's not cherry or plum, is it? The flowers look different," she casually commented.

"Ah, no, that's our apple tree," Ren answered. "It's been there since we were children. I think it was planted by an old great grandmother, and since then, our garden's been built to center around it." Turning to Natsumi, he softly commented, "Would you mind getting some tea, please?" She nodded in response, turning away to assume her hostess duties.

"Let me come with you," Hisana offered, wanting to see what the manor looked like on the inside.

"Of course," Natsumi answered with a smile as she linked arms with her friend, ecstatic to give her a small tour around her home.

"Do you ever get lost in here?" Noriyuki asked childishly after they left, still baffled by the large size of it. It seemed like such a waste of space.

"You should direct that question to Kuchiki-san," Ren replied with a small chuckle at the absurd question. "This is nothing compared to her manor."

"Uwah? Really?" Noriyuki asked, clearly surprised at this.

"Forgive him," Byakuya said, apologizing on his friend's behalf. "He has poor brain-mouth coordination."

"Brain-mouth...?" Ren repeated with a confused look before finally realizing it was a joke. "Oh, that's funny." The three boys sat there awkwardly, and after Noriyuki started fidgeting, Ren spoke up. "I meant to ask, how do you two know Kuchiki-san? Besides Zanjutsu?"

"I sit next to her in Kidō Studies, as well as Hakuda Studies," Byakuya answered, wondering if Ren was trying to establish his territory.

"Ah, I see," he answered. "I'm only acquainted with her thanks to my nosy sister. She's very pushy."

"Ugh, I know," Noriyuki answered without thinking and after seeing the surprised expression on Ren's face and the horrified one that was starting to form on Byakuya's, he quickly corrected himself. "But, she's really nice once you get past all..._that_."

"He has Tourette's syndrome; he can't help the things he says," Byakuya said quickly, stopping Noriyuki from digging their grave any deeper.

"It's okay, if you think she's bad at the Academy, then try living with her," Ren answered jokingly to show that he really wasn't offended, and in fact, found it quite funny. "I know that you don't really like me, but I hope that we can move past that and be good comrades if not friends," he said sincerely.

"I hope so, too," Byakuya answered, hating that despite being noble and high-up, Ren was actually a pretty decent guy and it was so hard to actually hate him.

Meanwhile, Natsumi cheerily gave Hisana a small tour of her home as she made her way to their kitchen to prepare tea and other refreshments. "Your home is very lovely," Hisana commented with a smile as she studied the art on one of the shoji screens. The furniture was indeed stylish and it seemed that the Andous had decorated accordingly to the Feng Shui rules.

"Ah, thank you," Natsumi replied cheerily as she set up a tray for the teapot and cups. She hummed softly as she prepared the hot water for the tea and thoughtfully selected a set of black ceramic cups with a gold dragonfly design on them with a matching kettle.

"You prepare the tea yourself?" Hisana asked curiously, somewhat surprised to see this side of her friend.

"Of course," she answered. "I am the hostess, am I not? And besides, Ren-nii is picky about the way his tea is made. I pity his future wife," she laughed, selecting a mix of _Gyokuro _green tea.

"You're using the good tea? Who is our special guest?" a man commented, and Hisana turned to face a dark-haired man who bore such a striking resemblance to Ren, or perhaps it was the other way around.

"Otou-san!" Natsumi greeted cheerfully. "Father, this is Kuchiki-chan."

"Hello, Hisana-san," he greeted kindly. "I am Andou Kazuhiro. I knew your mother. You're just as lovely as she was."

"Oh, thank you, Andou-sama," she answered back kindly. "It is a pleasure to meet you. My father speaks quite fondly of you and your family."

"As does Natsumi about you," he answered, causing his daughter to blush.

"Please, make yourself at home," Kazuhiro said. "It is an honor to have a Kuchiki in our manor."

"Ah, sir, you are too kind," Hisana replied modestly. "It is an honor to be invited."

Kazuhiro nodded to her, quite taken with her humility and smiled to his daughter. "Good luck with your training."

"Thank you, Otou-san," Natsumi answered with a small bow and smiled cheerily to Hisana as she finished preparations on the tea.

"Did your mother have red hair?" Hisana asked curiously.

"Yeah, she did," she replied with a smile. "They said she was really pretty. I don't remember though; she died when I was young. I don't know if Ren-nii remembers her at all. He doesn't like to talk about it. Otou-san doesn't like talking about her either."

"I'm sorry," Hisana said. "Mine died when I was young, too." She paused before hesitantly offering, "If you want, you can talk to me about it. I don't know much about my mother either..."

Natsumi smiled, touched by her offer. "Thank you, Kuchiki-chan. That really means a lot to me." Picking up the tray, she led the way back to the boys with Hisana carrying small snacks with her.

"You sure took your time," Ren commented to his sister with a lazy smirk.

"Otou-san wanted to meet Kuchiki-chan!" Natsumi answered as she poured tea for everybody.

"Oh?" he asked, somewhat interested at that. "I hope he didn't say anything embarrassing."

"No, he was a perfect gentleman," she answered, accepting a cup of tea from Natsumi and sighed as she breathed it in. "It smells lovely." She shyly glanced up from her teacup, watching Ren and Natsumi quibble over how she didn't make the tea right again and smiled to herself, thinking that it was nice to see them in a more carefree environment.

The group decided to study kidō while sipping at their tea. Noriyuki, determined to get _something_ right, was about to make another attempt at _Hadō 31: Shakkahō_, but Byakuya stopped him immediately, explaining that while it was alright to set himself on fire, it was most certainly unacceptable to set the Andou's training compound on fire.

"Are you really that bad at kidō?" Natsumi asked with a frown. "Ren-nii's bad at it, too."

"Well, Andou-san doesn't set himself on fire _or_ the sensei teaching the course," Noriyuki laughed. "I placed dead last for the kidō rankings. There goes my shot at trying out for the accelerated program, huh?"

"Nori-chan, that's why we're having a study group! We'll help you improve so you can be part of the accelerated program with us when we all apply, and in exchange, you have to help me with Zanjutsu," Hisana said, patting him on the back. "Byakuya-san, Natsumi-chan, what did you place lowest in?"

"Hohou," Byakuya replied, recalling Kaien telling him that it was Hisana's best class.

"Hakuda," Natsumi answered, knowing that the only reason she had done so terribly was because she was worried about breaking a nail and that she lacked any kind of physical strength to fight.

"Let's start with kidō," Byakuya suggested, "That's where we have the most problems."

Natsumi read the textbook with Noriyuki, giving him tips on how to practice controlling his spiritual pressure and how to harness its energy efficiently and effectively without losing control of it. Byakuya and Hisana looked over the book with Ren, where they realized that he had only done terribly because of his bad memory.

"I don't like memorizing things..." Ren muttered, glaring down at the long incantation that came with the kidō spells. Natsumi laughed at her brother's already failing memory and explained that the only reason he had done so horribly on the tests was because he preferred to have weaker spells so he didn't have to memorize incantations instead of powerful spells with a memorized incantation.

"We can't really help you here, Andou-san..." Byakuya said, closing the kidō textbook.

"Sorry, Andou-san, I have to agree with Byakuya-san," Hisana added, shaking her head. "It's not that you have trouble with kidō, it's just your personal preference to not memorize incantations."

"I understand," Ren answered lazily as he idly flipped through the textbook, still choosing to only memorize the names of kidō spells instead of their needed incantation. Bored, he shut his book and asked, "Does anyone want to spar?"

"Yes!" Noriyuki answered, glad to move onto a topic that he didn't fail immensely at.

Natsumi groaned, reminded of how Noriyuki had outscored her on the test and was clearly still holding a grudge about that. Despite the change in study topics, she was still glad that she'd be able to help Hisana out somehow. "Ren, just remember that this is supposed to be _friendly_ sparring," she chided.

"I'll spar with you. Just don't beat me up too bad," Hisana said to Ren amicably with a sweet smile. "I'd hate it if you embarrassed me in front of everybody."

"I'll go easy on you, Hisana-chan!" Noriyuki exclaimed, wanting to do anything but kidō. "Or would Natsumi-chan rather spar with me instead?"

"Eh? Why are you so casual with me?" she snapped at him. "It's 'Andou-san' to you!"

"But _he's_ Andou-san," Noriyuki protested, pointing at Ren. "You can call me by my first name, too, if you want. Nori's just fine."

"No thanks," Natsumi said, brushing him off, still unwilling to admit that there was _something_ going on between them.

"I'm not going to hold back," Ren said warningly as Hisana picked up her katana. She looked at him with a startled expression, realizing that he was probably going to defeat her brutally. They bowed to each other, before assuming an offensive stance. "You have good form," he commented and then moved to land the first blow.

Hisana flinched, leaping to the side and relying on her Hohou to stay out of Ren's attack range. "Andou-san!" she yelped, barely able to deflect a hard strike against her blade. "I thought this was supposed to be _friendly_ sparring!"

"I never said that," he answered, and drew back to give her a little break with a frown. "Kuchiki-san, in a real life situation, no hollow is going to spar with you in a _friendly_ manner. When I fight, I fight to kill." Her eyes went wide when she suddenly realized that Ren's eyes possessed a sharp, killing instinct in them as he moved. He really was giving it his all in this little sparring match.

"Hey, you're going to hurt her!" Natsumi snapped at Ren. At least there was one Andou looking out for her.

"Ah, it's alright. Byakuya-san can always pull off that nifty kidō trick, right?" Ren asked, purposefully bringing up the incident where Byakuya had so blatantly robbed him of his shining knight moment. Byakuya bristled at this, unsure of what Ren was trying to accomplish or prove.

Hisana let out another yelp when Ren had predicted her movement patterns and cornered her. He struck down, fast and hard, and Hisana had no other choice but to parry and strike back with her sword. Ren landed a powerful blow on her, and manipulated the force into an oscillating shockwave that stunned Hisana's muscles, causing her to tense and freeze in place. With a quick flick to his wrist, he was able to smack the katana out of her grasp, claiming a swift victory.

"What was that?" she gasped, frowning as the numbness in her arms faded.

"Zanjutsu technique," he explained hastily. "I read ahead in the book and practiced many times on Natsumi. She refuses to spar with me anymore."

Hands shaking, Hisana went to sit out as Natsumi boldly challenged Byakuya to spar with her, explaining that she wanted to know other people's fighting styles. She knew how to read Ren, since he chose to fight with sheer strength and power, but she also knew better than to assume that everyone else fought like her brother. Noriyuki took this opportunity to curl up and take a nap, using his textbook as a pillow.

"Sorry, I hope I didn't hurt you," Ren said as he sat down next to Hisana and watched as Natsumi tried to figure out Byakuya's fighting style. "I get carried away with sparring sometimes."

Hisana looked up at him, noting that the killer instinct in his eyes had faded. "You take your losses very seriously, don't you?" she asked him hesitantly after a moment of silence.

"Ha, I kind of do, don't I?" Ren laughed with admission. "A loss is a loss. It's how my father raised me to be."

"It sounds so strict," she commented, hoping she wouldn't offend him. "I always thought that I could just practice harder next time."

"There's no 'next time' in a real battle," he answered, repeating what he had been taught. "You can't choose the strength of your opponent in a real battle. Losing means death. When one with a responsibility dies, a hundred innocent souls will also die. That is why, us Shinigami, have a responsibility to not die so easily. Even if it's just practice, one must reflect deeply when he loses."

"I wish I could be like you and Natsumi-chan," Hisana confessed softly. "You have unwavering morals. You know exactly what you want out of life. I don't know anything..."

"Neh, Kuchiki-san," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder gently. "I wish I could be more like you, Byakuya-san and Nori-san." She looked up at him with surprise, nearly gasping at his statement. He laughed at her expression, before pulling away. "Natsumi-chan and I were raised to want these things. She and I don't have our _own_ goals. These aren't my dreams. I want to have my own purpose in life, something that wasn't pushed onto me by my family."

"Andou-san..." she murmured, unsure if she should feel bad for him or not.

"Ha, forget what I said. This kind of thinking is dangerous, you know?" he said, turning his attention back to Natsumi and Byakuya. His sister was fast and a strategist and tried to predict Byakuya's moves. However, he, too, was a strategist, and in this battle, he was the one who outsmarted her, getting her to stumble and trip over her own feet as she tried to throw him off by playing on his Hohou weakness. He disarmed her with gentle slap to the wrist, causing her to drop her sword. Gingerly, she tentatively rubbed at her wrist, grateful that Byakuya was considerate enough to use the back of his blade instead of drawing blood.

They finished their study group with Hakuda challenges (and shockingly, Noriyuki was the most skilled out of all them in this topic) and a quick review over Hohou. Hisana, who excelled in this study, tried her best to help Byakuya stop stumbling over his own feet whenever he tried to move and keep up with her. When the sun started to set, Byakuya knew that it was his cue to leave and politely bowed down to Ren and Natsumi and thanked them for letting them use their training compound. Noriyuki and Hisana followed suit, knowing that it'd be best for them to take their leave as well.

"You should come over to my home the next time we all study together," Hisana said sincerely, glad that everyone was willing to study together again. They had all gotten along together so well, even Natsumi with Noriyuki, and she had really enjoyed herself.

As they left, Noriyuki feeling like the third wheel again, finally decided to make his escape for good. "Good night, Hisana-chan! I have something important to do that I've already put off. I'll see you around!" he exclaimed with a grin.

"What important things?" Byakuya snapped, trying to stop him from leaving, but Nori gave him a friendly wave and a wink before disappearing in the opposite direction.

"Haha, and then there were two," Hisana remarked with a smile. "Sorry about today, Byakuya-san, I know you weren't too please about having Andou-san and his sister join us. I'll make it up to you, promise!"

"It's fine," he answered awkwardly. "Really, don't trouble yourself over it. I had a good time."

"Really?" she asked, feeling a lot better about it. "I'm glad." At that moment, her stomach decided to growl. Loudly. "Ah!" she exclaimed, flushing scarlet. "Taking that beating from Andou-san must have really worked up an appetite!"

"I should get you home quickly then," Byakuya replied.

"Hm?" Hisana hummed, realizing that he was going to cut their night short. Without thinking, she panicked and said, "Actually, I was thinking you and I could go out and eat together!"

Byakuya stared at her, wondering if he had heard her correctly in the first place. "Together?" he repeated skeptically.

"Yes! Together. You and me," she answered. "Unless you have other plans?" she asked, secretly hoping that he didn't and would go with her.

Byakuya paused, contemplating over the decision. He knew Noriyuki would have accused him of stealing her from Ren again, but honestly, he couldn't care less about the noble, noting that she was asking _him_ to eat with her and not Ren. "Sure, I have some time to spare."


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach!**

Thank you, Sabathiel, ZALXERO, sky, and Girls In White Dresses for the reviews~

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><p>Their unintentional date went well, in Hisana's opinion.<p>

Unsure where to go, Hisana chose Kaien's favorite place, knowing that every student would have to live off of instant noodles at one point in their life. Byakuya didn't seem to mind, glad that she had chosen some place casual and low-end. He knew he'd have issues if she picked some place expensive and nice. They both looked over the menu quickly, noting that they were the only ones in the restaurant. It was already past the dinner rush hour and they were lucky that the restaurant was still open and willing to serve them.

"Itadakimasu!" Hisana exclaimed cheerfully before starting to eat her noodles.

"Itadakimasu," he answered agreeably and started on his food. He stopped, reaching for the spicy sauce to make his soup hotter.

"Eh, your soup is already so red!" she commented, noting what he was doing. "Didn't you order it to be extra-spicy?"

"I like spicy food," he answered with a shrug.

"I see," she replied, looking down at her own plain bowl. "I can't eat spicy food at all. It hurts my throat," she laughed as she continued eating.

"The heat doesn't get to me," he responded, mixing in the sauce with his soup.

"Right, you and Nori-chan are immune to heat," she joked, recalling the time they were both chugging down steaming hot cups of tea.

"Actually, Nori doesn't like spicy food," Byakuya said, "He says it ruins the taste of food. He wants to _enjoy_ his food, not be in pain as he eats it."

"That's funny," she laughed, "You and Nori-chan are really close, aren't you?"

"Yes, he's my best friend," Byakuya answered, truly grateful to have Noriyuki in his life. "He found me when I was in a dark place, and took me in. I'm sure I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for him."

"I wish I had a friend like that," Hisana confessed. "I'm jealous of you and Nori-chan. You guys know each other so well that you're practically family. I don't have anybody."

"You don't have siblings?" Byakuya asked, somewhat surprised. He would have assumed that the Kuchikis would have at least more than one heir.

"No, my mother died when I was young, and I've no cousins either," she said. "I didn't have much friends growing up either, since my father hired a private tutor and didn't let me go out much. It's only because I begged my grandfather that I'm at the Academy."

Byakuya recalled Kaien's words of how Hisana really wasn't so different from him and offered a warm smile. "Well, Noriyuki and I are your friends, aren't we?"

She nodded to his words with a smile. "Yeah, we are, aren't we? I guess that makes you guys my first friends, though, Byakuya-san, I have to warn you, Nori-chan's got a head start. We're already _best_ friends."

"Best friends already? When did this happen?" Byakuya asked, knowing that Noriyuki's friendly demeanor would have caused him to befriend her to the best of his abilities.

"When you were being mean," she said lightly, and upon seeing his surprised and guilty look, she quickly added, "It's okay; I've already forgiven you and I understand why you did it. But just to make sure, things are going a lot better now, right?"

Byakuya nodded, suddenly realizing that she actually _cared_. Unsure if he liked the attention of not, he quickly changed the subject. "So how did Nori get ahead?"

"He confessed to me that he likes Natsumi-chan," Hisana answered with a wink. "I feel horrible for saying this, but I don't think he has a chance..."

"Pft, I _know_ he doesn't have a chance," Byakuya replied with a small snort. "For starters, she's _taller_ than him."

"You know, you should speak to him about his masochistic tendencies," she laughed.

"I have, and it fell onto deaf ears," Byakuya remarked with a small smile."You know, if you ever want to talk, you can always speak to me or Nori," he added, almost shyly. "That's what friends are for, right? So we can let them into our hearts."

She nodded at his words. "I like the sound of that."

"So why have you been so bothered lately?" Byakuya asked, hesitantly prodding into uncharted territories.

"Ah, so you noticed," she commented sadly. "It's nothing really. Just some problems at home."

"Talk to me about it," he ordered gently, trying to be a friend. "Don't keep it bottled in."

Hisana paused, wondering if she should tell an outsider about her family's issues. She had really wanted to talk to Kaien, but maybe telling a stranger would be better just this once. "My father wants me to drop out of the Academy."

Byakuya looked genuinely surprised and got a tight feeling in his chest at these words. "Oh?"

"Well, he hasn't told me flat out, but I can tell. He doesn't believe I have what it takes to become a Shinigami, and I know it's so cliché, but I have to just so that I can prove him wrong," she sighed. "I feel like my heart's not in the right place."

"Why? Because you have to prove yourself to your own father?" he asked.

She chuckled at that, and shook her head. "That, too, but I'm more upset that I want to be a Shinigami for _him_. It's not even for myself, and that just seems so wrong to me."

"I'm sure everything will make sense when you find your reason," Byakuya assured her.

"Yeah? What's your reason then?" she asked, looking for some inspiration.

He paused at that, tensing as he raised his shield on reflex. "I haven't found my reason yet," he lied, not ready to share such precious information with her.

Hisana looked at him, seeing right through him, but kindly smiled, deciding that she wouldn't push him or force him to answer just yet. "Well, when you find your reason, tell me okay?" she asked.

"Of course," he answered, knowing that he'd probably never tell her.

"I'm serious!" Hisana said, boldly reaching across the table to grab his hand. "Promise me that when you find your reason and your resolve, I get to be the first one to know." He stared at her with a startled expression as his cheeks started to tint pink. Hisana paid no attention to him as she linked her pinky finger with his, tying their thread of fate. "There, now it's a pinky promise, and you know you can't break those."

His eyes went wide at her words as he looked down at their hands. Hers was delicate and so much smaller than his. Pinky promises were such a childish notion, that he couldn't help but to smile at the gesture. "I promise, Hisana."

Byakuya was such a gentleman that he offered to walk her home, despite feeling uncomfortable in a noble household. "You don't have to," she told him, knowing how he felt. To her, it was a miracle that he managed to survive spending a day at the Andou training compound.

"Thanks, but it'd be wrong if I didn't," Byakuya answered as he offered her his arm, knowing that's probably what Ren would have done.

"You're so kind," she complimented with a smile as she accepted it, and walked back to her home with him. "Good night, Byakuya-san," Hisana said with a nod as he walked her to the gates of the Kuchiki manor.

He shifted uncomfortably, clearly not wanting to take another step further, but at the same time, was unsure if he should have done something. A handshake? A brief embrace? God forbid, a good night kiss? "Good night," he said awkwardly.

"I'll see you in class tomorrow," she said, taking the initiative to hug him quickly. Byakuya tensed and slowly brought his arms around her to embrace her back. When he had first met her, he had thought that she had worn too much perfume, but now, with her in his arms, he couldn't help but to think it was a lovely smell, and whenever he smelled flora in the future, there was no doubt that he'd be thinking of her. "Good bye," she said, pulling away from him and turning away. She looked over her shoulder to glance back before going into her house and met his gaze as he, too, turned back. She gave him a friendly wave and a smile and went in.

Much to her surprise, her father was in a hurry heading out as she returned home. "Hisana? You're late," he commented, as he put on a haori.

"Sorry, I was studying with classmates and then we went out to eat," she answered. "I texted Jiji..."

Sojun stared at her for a second, and then shook his head, dismissing the topic. "Right, he mentioned that. Ah, well, you're home now."

"Father, where are you going?" she asked with a confused look, knowing that he never liked to leave the manor after meals. He was the type who preferred to take his evening strolls before dinner was served. Kuchiki Sojun was a man of routine, and he was rather anal-retentive about that.

"I have business," he answered, brushing past her. "Do not worry about it, Hisana."

Ginrei came to the door, wondering what the commotion was and frowned at the sight of his granddaughter's confused expression. His son bid them farewell before hurrying out and then she hesitantly asked, "Jiji, where is Father going?"

Ginrei shrugged at his granddaughter's interest in her father, and shook his head slowly, pretending not to know. "I thought I told you to focus on your studies instead of your father's affairs."

"Oh, yes, sorry, Jiji," she answered, but couldn't help but to wonder just what on earth was so important that made Sojun break his everyday ritual.

"You're late," Andou Kazuhiro said when Sojun arrived at the Andou manor. "You're supposed to be reflecting your family's values."

"I'm not late; your clocks are just faster," Sojun answered, causing Kazuhiro to chuckle. "You wanted to speak?"

"Yes, please follow me," he nodded, leading Sojun to his study. "Would you like any tea?"

"No, thank you," he answered coolly. "I presume you met my daughter today."

"Yes, she's a lovely little thing, just like her mother," Kazuhiro answered, and Sojun bristled at the mention of his deceased wife. "I've noticed that she and Ren get along very well."

"Ren's a good boy," he commented, knowing where this conversation was going. "He's very talented, and moral, upholding all the laws of the Soul Society. You should be proud of him."

"I truly am," Kazuhiro replied, beaming with pride. "Hisana is very good girl, as well. They could be happy together. She would make a good Lady Andou."

Sojun laughed, loudly at Kazuhiro's suggestion. "If Ren and Hisana were to be married, Ren would be the one marrying into the Kuchiki family. He would be leaving behind the Andou name."

Kazuhiro's easy-going expression faded into one of anger. "You want him to leave behind his family?"

"He has to," Sojun replied. "He'd be the twenty-eighth head of the Kuchiki Clan. It would be an honor. You have another daughter; she can be Lady Andou of your house."

"Where am I going to find a son that'd be willing to leave his family and marry into my clan?" Kazuhiro demanded, seething with fury at the suggestion Sojun made.

"I found Ren, didn't I?" Sojun answered with a smirk, causing Kazuhiro to slam onto his desk with balled fists. "If you're not willing to accommodate, I can always find somebody else. Ren may be talented, but he's replaceable," he commented, as he stood up and prepared to leave.

"Wait," Kazuhiro called out, defeated. "It would be an honor for Ren to marry into the Kuchiki family."

"Kuchiki Ren has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" Sojun asked, rubbing salt into the wound as he claimed victory in their negotiations. Upon seeing the enraged expression on Kazuhiro's face, he laughed and offered an apology. "Forgive me, there are many others as talented as Ren, but he really is a special. It would be very difficult to find somebody worthy of Hisana like him. You should be proud of him. Farewell, Andou-san, we can speak of these affairs another day."

"Farewell, Kuchiki-san," he answered, still disconcerted by Sojun's better-than-thou attitude.

"Father?" Kazuhiro turned to see his only beloved son, frowning as he watched Hisana's father leave. "Father, is something the matter?"

"No, son," Kazuhiro answered, holding back on Ren's account. "Just be sure to keep working hard; I'll make sure all your efforts pay off in the near future. I promise you that."

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><p>Hisana, forgetting about how odd her father was acting, focused her thinking on Byakuya instead. Since meeting him, she knew that their date had been their first heart to heart together, and she couldn't help but to hope that they would be able to meet together, alone, again. In fact, the next day before leaving, she made sure to look exceptionally nice before going to the Academy to meet with him.<p>

"You look nice today," Natsumi commented, seeing that something about her looked different. "What did you do differently...?" she asked, trying to figure it out.

"Ah, it's nothing!" Hisana laughed, trying to brush it off like it was nothing. "I got up early by accident and couldn't get back to sleep."

Natsumi stared at her for a few seconds and then suddenly gasped, realizing what the cause of her odd behavior was. Desperate for her daily gossip intake and love of boy troubles, she squealed, exclaiming, "Who does Kuchiki-chan admire?"

"Natsumi!" Hisana gaped, shushing her immediately. "I don't like anybody! Since when does a girl need to look nice for a guy?" she asked defensively. "Natsumi-chan always looks pretty."

"That's because I like someone," Natsumi answered with a wink.

"Eh? Who do you admire?" Hisana asked with a confused look, wondering who would be able to put up with her. She secretly hoped that perhaps Noriyuki was finally rubbing off on her and she was starting to return his feelings, even if it was only by a little.

"It's a secret!" Natsumi replied, as she pointed to the ribbons that decorated her half pigtails. "That's why I always dress cute and look nice so I'll catch his eye. "So whose eye is Kuchiki-chan trying to catch?"

"Natsumi-chan, your nails are so pretty!" Hisana exclaimed, seeing that her nails matched her hair ribbons. She grabbed her hand to look at the pretty design Natsumi had done.

"Hm? Why don't you do yours?" she asked, not realizing that Hisana had taken the opportunity to change the subject at all.

"Ah, well, I can't do them well myself," Hisana replied sheepishly as she looked at her plain nails.

Ecstatic, Natsumi dug through her bag and pulled out a bottle of nail polish. "This color would suit you, Kuchiki-chan! I'll do them for you during our lunch break!"

"What a cute color," she commented with a smile, seeing that it was a cherry blossom pink, her favorite color. During their lunch break, Natsumi carefully helped Hisana with her nails as promised. Byakuya idly watched as he made conversation with Ren and Noriyuki. "Thank you, Natsumi-chan!" Hisana exclaimed happily when she was finished and looked at her nails with delight. "It's so pretty."

Natsumi beamed with pride, obviously knowing her way around makeup and fashion. "Kuchiki-chan, if you let me help you with your makeup, then you'll definitely catch your guy's eye in no time!"

"Huh?" Byakuya and Ren both exclaimed, turning to face the girls. Noriyuki blinked, surprised that he wasn't the one to be voicing his opinions for once.

"Ah! It's nothing!" Hisana said with a blush as she looked down at her nails. "Besides, all that makeup would get mussed with our practice courses. It's already a lot for me to do my nails."

"You should take tips from her," Ren commented, trying to regain his cool. "You spend too much time every morning on your looks. It goes to waste with our practice courses."

"I don't think it's a waste," Noriyuki piped up, looking at Natsumi with a grin.

"Ugh, ew," she sighed, looking away from him with a huff. "Didn't I already tell you that you weren't my type?"

"Eh? Nori-chan confessed?" Hisana asked, picking up on the underlying message. Natsumi and Noriyuki looked at each other awkwardly, making Hisana blush and feel bad for even asking in the first place. "Never mind that! You don't have to answer. It'd probably be best if we didn't know," she rambled, desperate to change the subject.

"Natsumi-chan! What color would look good with me?" Noriyuki blurted out, seeing that everything was going downhill and like Hisana, was trying to save it before things could get disastrous.

She stared at him with a scrutinizing eye and everybody had no doubts that she would have scolded him for addressing her so casually. Instead, to everyone's surprise, she answered, "Blue."

"Really?" Noriyuki asked with bright eyes and a crooked smile. "Are you sure I'm not a passionate red?"

"It doesn't match your eye color..." she mumbled quietly, starting to turn that shade of 'passionate red.' Realizing that everyone was staring at her with an odd look, she grabbed Ren by the arm and stormed off, exclaiming that she needed to get to class.

"Is it that time already?" Noriyuki asked, looking down to his watch. "Yup, it is! Catch you two later!"

"I know your watch is broken!" Byakuya hissed, but Noriyuki grinned, waving him off and then leaving two again. Hisana smiled warmly and began to gather her stuff before heading off to class with Byakuya. She unconsciously rubbed her fingers against the smooth polish as their walk was unusually silent, and awkward. "It's a nice color," Byakuya mumbled, breaking the silence.

"Hm?" Hisana hummed with a confused look before she finally realized he was complimenting her nails. "I like the color, too! It reminds me of cherry blossoms! Natsumi-chan really does know what's best, doesn't she...?" Hisana trailed off suddenly, seeing the sad look in his eyes. "What's the matter, Byakuya-san?"

"Nothing," he answered, raising his defenses.

"Tell me about it; don't keep it bottled in," she said, wanting to be closer to him and to know him better.

"If it were anything else, I swear I would have told you," he said honestly, taking her hand and gently pressed his finger against the smooth polish of her nails.

"Would you have told Nori-chan?" Hisana asked boldly, needing to know if it was because she wasn't as close to him as she hoped she could be.

"No, I don't think I would even tell him," Byakuya answered quietly, pulling away and closing his heart off to her. "Don't trouble yourself over this. It doesn't concern anyone at all."

The next day, Natsumi fussed over Hisana's fingernails, exclaiming, "What happened? Why'd you take it all off?"

"Ah, sorry, Natsumi-chan! I scratched it by accident and messed it up even more when I tried to fix it," Hisana said, feeling terrible for removing the nail polish. The truth was she would never tell anyone that she removed it because it caused Byakuya to make such a sad expression. Likewise, Byakuya would never tell anyone that he remembered that cherry blossom pink was Rukia's favorite color.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach!**

Quick note: I've used lines from the Bleach manga for Kaien and Byakuya.

Thank you, zop, ZALXERO, sky and Girls In White Dresses for reviewing~

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><p>The Academy was starting to make its final stretch into the final weeks of its first year. With it came the stressful cumulative finals and for the lucky few, applications for the Accelerated Elite Program. Noriyuki and Byakuya, ever so oblivious, were surprised when they met a crowd of students blockading their way to class one day.<p>

"Mother of God, what is the fuss now?" Noriyuki sighed, knowing that it couldn't have been class rankings since they were the preparing for their finals.

"We can ask Hisana and then come back later," Byakuya answered, not really wanting to have his personal space rudely invaded again.

"Good idea," Noriyuki answered, turning away from the crowd to follow Byakuya to Zanjutsu. To their surprise, Hisana, Ren, and Natsumi weren't chatting around or socializing and instead, were very seriously filling out paperwork. "Is that what the crowd was about?" Noriyuki asked, sitting down next to Natsumi and peering over her shoulder.

"You don't know?" Natsumi asked seriously, wondering how on earth they could be so out of the loop. "The applications for the Accelerated Elite Program are finally available. Everybody wants to know if they've received an invitation to apply."

"Ah, we should probably go look at that, huh, Byakuya?" Noriyuki commented and then suddenly realized what that meant. "Oh, congratulations to you guys then. Hope we all make it in! Wouldn't it be fun to be in the same classes again?"

Hisana smiled at this, sharing the same thoughts he did about staying together. "You two better go find out if you're qualified or not! Especially you, Nori-chan! We worked so hard to get you out of last place for Kidō. We wouldn't want all that effort to go to waste, right?"

"I share that sentiment with you," Natsumi interrupted. "Or rather, my _hair_ does." As it turned out, the last time they had practiced together, Noriyuki ended up igniting Natsumi's long hair. With a good chunk of it burned off, she had no choice but to cut her hair short, and was more than upset about it.

Noriyuki chuckled sheepishly, and flirtatiously replied, "But Natsumi-chan still looks pretty, even with short hair. I think it makes her look cuter."

"Eh? Didn't I tell you not to be so familiar with me...?" she asked, blushing hard as she looked away. "Why do you always say weird things you don't mean...?" Flustered, she quickly went back to working on her application. "Just go find out if you qualified already!"

"I know you guys don't like crowding, but it'll probably be worth it this time," Ren commented, looking up from his application. "I don't think the crowd will be clearing anytime soon. There's students who are upset and are demanding for invitations. You'll have to fight past them."

"Thanks for the tip; we'll go after class," Byakuya answered, determined to beat Ren. They had been grudging rivals all year long, both for grades and (unwittingly) for Hisana's affections. If Ren had been invited to apply for the Accelerated Program, there was no doubt that Byakuya would have gotten one too. He would have no choice but to apply as well in order to continue their rivalry.

As expected, after the class, the crowd didn't let up one bit, and Noriyuki had seriously considered using Hakuda to get through. Byakuya, being taller, was able to push through the crowd with ease, dragging Noriyuki with him until they made it to the front where they had to search for their names in a box of sealed envelopes. There was no surprise that Byakuya had received an invitation. Noriyuki was much to shocked to believe that he had been accepted, considering his horrible Kidō grade, but it seemed that he had done well enough in his other classes to make up for it. Wanting to know just how close he was from getting rejected, Noriyuki calculated his grades and found out he was only half a point away.

The two returned to their dorm rooms to get started on their applications in hopes of turning it in as soon as possible. The application process was quite tedious. It required not only a basic profile and resume, but an artistic personal statement, personal essay, references and their personal recommendations, teacher recommendations, and an interview if you were lucky to make it that far.

As if the application process wasn't stressful enough, finals had also started coming up to make matters worse. Hisana was hardly surprised that Ren had just about disappeared from her life, holing up in the library to study his ass off and try and reclaim his spot as number one. She hardly saw him besides classes and he always apologized for being so distant and always leaving in a rush. However, he did make a promise that he would make things up to her during summer break.

What was surprising, however, was that Byakuya had also disappeared from her life. He was always late to class, and then the first one to leave the second class was over, leaving even Noriyuki behind. When Hisana shyly asked if Byakuya was mad at her about something, he laughed. "No, no, Hisana-chan, he's taking private lessons."

"Private lessons? Like a tutor?" Hisana asked, with a curious look. "How does he manage it with everything else we have to do?"

"I have no idea. He's not normal, I tell you. There's no way a _normal_ person can handle all these classes, the late night review sessions_ and_ private lessons and somehow manage to get a good night's sleep," Noriyuki remarked. "He's always running back and forth between the Thirteenth."

Hisana listened with a smile until one detail that particularly stuck out caught her attention. "I'm sorry, did you say the _Thirteenth_?"

"Yeah," Noriyuki nodded, "Shiba-fukutaichou offered to help the both of us. I can't handle all this work otherwise I'd be going with Byakuya."

"Shiba? As in Shiba _Kaien_?" Hisana pestered, unable to believe that her Kaien-dono, who detested paperwork to no end, would try and take on two protégés. She wasn't sure what hurt more, the fact that he didn't tell her or the fact that he didn't _choose_ her.

"Um, yeah?" he replied, realizing that she was very bothered by this and began to tread lightly around her. "He's a great guy, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he's the best," she murmured, pulling away from Noriyuki. "Excuse me, please," she added hastily as she hurried to leave, ignoring Noriyuki's calls for her to return.

She felt so stupid. Of course Kaien wouldn't take her as his student. Him choosing Byakuya over her had just confirmed her worst fear that she wasn't good enough to be a Shinigami. Sure, she had no problems passing her classes, but like Noriyuki said and as the class rankings clearly showed, Byakuya must have been really talented and amazing to be able to handle the school's curriculum and private lessons with ease.

Personally, she felt like a complete idiot, wondering why this had bothered her so much and why she was so _jealous_. Then again, just because Kaien was her best friend didn't mean that she would have been his student. Just because she was nobility didn't mean he would pick her. Knowing Kaien, he probably wanted to keep his business life and social life separate.

"Kuchiki-san?"

Hisana hastily wiped at her tears, wondering when she had started crying all of a sudden, before self-consciously facing Andou Ren. "What are you doing here? I thought you were isolating yourself in the library."

"Natsumi has something of mine; I was on my way to go get it back... Are you alright?" he asked, sincerely concerned for her wellbeing.

"Please just leave me alone," she said quietly, looking down at her shoes. "I've been so emotional and bothered lately, and I think the stress of everything had just gotten to me. I swear, I'm not usually like this! I think I've—"

"Snapped?" Ren finished, fishing out a handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to her. "Do you want to talk about it? I'm here for you, you know that right?"

"Thank you," she mumbled, accepting his handkerchief and wiped her eyes. At his offer, she blushed and shook her head. "It's nothing. I'm just overreacting."

Ren studied her face for a moment and looked away. "If we were closer, would you have told me?" he asked hopefully.

"What?" Hisana asked, looking at him with a puzzled expression. Their conversation was nearly identical to the one she had with Byakuya. She thought over his question seriously and quietly answered, "Probably."

Boldly, he grabbed a hold of her hand, and sincerely professed, "I wish we could skip over all the awkwardness between us. I wish you and I could be good friends already."

"I wish that could happen, too," she replied, finding it to be rude to not share the same sentiments as him. Surely if she and him could have skipped over the awkwardness between them and grow closer, then perhaps she could have done the same with Byakuya. "I'm sure the years at the Academy will make up for that," she said assuringly, showing that she was willing to make progress on their friendship.

Ren sighed, letting go of her hands. "I'm not done my application yet," he stated, remembering that he still had so much on his workload. "We... may not be that close yet, but I'm here if you ever need a shoulder to lean on."

"Thank you, that means a lot," Hisana answered with a smile. "Oh!" she gasped, handing him back his handkerchief before she could forget.

"Keep it; it's a token of our friendship," Ren replied with a smile.

_'And clearly, your affections!'_ her conscience added. "Thank you," she said gratefully. "I really like that, and in the future, if you have something you want to talk about, then I'll be there for you, too."

"Promise?" Ren asked, offering her his pinky finger. She stared at him, taken back a little by his gesture. Mistaking her confusion for rejection, he chuckled nervously. "Sorry, it's kind of childish to do that, huh?" he said, pulling his hand back.

Hisana reflexively grabbed his hand, stopping him, surprising him and most of all, herself. "It's not childish," she said, forcing her fingers to cooperate and link with his. "I do it all the time myself, and yes, I promise. We'll be good friends." Ren smiled, looking quite assured by this, and Hisana knew that she felt the exact same.

"Hisana-chan?"

She instantly tore her hand away from Ren's, and was face to face with Noriyuki. She blushed, unsure if she should be glad that Byakuya was not with him. Ren made a face and dropped his hand back to his side and cleared his throat, announcing his leave. "Goodbye, Kuchiki-san," he said, caught off-guard.

Noriyuki glanced back, making sure Ren was gone before asking, "What's with him?"

"Nothing you need to be worried about," she answered, tucking Ren's handkerchief into her pocket. "What's up?"

"Did I say something wrong? You kind of took off abruptly back there. I'm sorry if I offended you or something," he mumbled, looking clearly guilty about whatever it was that he had done.

"No, sorry, I'm just not feeling myself lately. You've done nothing wrong, Nori," she assured him. "I'm sorry for making you worried."

He stared at her and fidgeted with his fingers for a second before hesitantly asking, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Actually," she murmured, glancing towards the direction Ren had left in, "I'm all talked out. Nori-chan, I'll catch you later, okay? I've got something important to do."

"Oh, okay. Bye, Hisana-chan!" he answered, unsure if he should tell Byakuya about how close she and Ren were starting to get.

* * *

><p>"You know, you've never told me why you wanted to become a Shinigami," Kaien remarked one day, during their break in lessons.<p>

"That's because you've never asked," Byakuya answered, still guarded around the lieutenant. He wished that Noriyuki had agreed to take part in this rigorous training, but he was much too lazy and had wanted to improve his kidō with Natsumi.

"Well, I'm asking now," Kaien answered. "I know that you and Nori-kun are from Rukongai and that you have family there."

"Friends," Byakuya corrected. "I have close friends, but no family."

"Tell me about your friends then," Kaien said casually. "I know nothing about my student, and you practically know everything about me. Lower your guard for once. Nobody will judge you."

"No thanks," he answered, looking away. "I'm not the type to reminisce."

"What a load of bullshit," the lieutenant hooted. "You, Byakuya-kun, are haunted by the past."

Byakuya's form went rigid as he stiffly looked to his sensei with a troubled look. "What do you know?" he hissed coldly, trying to go back to his stony exterior and cover up any emotions that he let out in this moment of weakness.

"Byakuya-kun, you can't let the past control you. Whatever it is, you have to let go. If you don't, you'll never be able to move on," Kaien lectured.

"It's not that easy!" Byakuya snapped defensively. "You know nothing about me."

"Exactly," Kaien answered stubbornly. "I know _nothing_ about you because you won't _let_ me. Does anybody know the real Asahi Byakuya?"

Byakuya thought of Noriyuki at that moment, in the past, standing over him with an outstretched hand and warm smile. It really was thanks to Noriyuki that he was alive today. It was after living with Byakuya for a year that Noriyuki had finally decided to brave the depths and ask the dreaded question. He had promised not to judge, and he hadn't, and since then, they had been inseparable. In a way, Noriyuki was the younger sibling that replaced Rukia in his life.

"Oi!" Kaien snapped, giving Byakuya a good smack in the back of the head.

"What was that for?" Byakuya growled.

"Because you wouldn't respond to me!" he answered smugly. "And you said you weren't the type to dredge up the past."

"Nori saved me in the Rukongai. We lived in a very poor district and we witnessed the strong torture the weak every single day. It was Nori's idea to leave and become Shinigami to be stronger," Byakuya explained.

"Okay, so what's your reason?" Kaien pestered again, sensing that he and Noriyuki probably shared different reasons for wanting to become Shinigami. Nori had wanted to rise from his poverty and become strong to protect the weak, but Byakuya seemed to have other things in mind. "I won't stop bothering you about it until you tell me."

"What's _your_ reason?" Byakuya asked, not liking to be put in the spotlight.

"Isn't it obvious? To fight and protect!" Kaien answered proudly.

"How vague," his student commented, looking at him with a frown. "Protect what?"

"Uh, you know, whatever needs protecting!" Kaien replied with a grin. "Listen up! I'm going to tell you Ukitake-taichou's policy and you decide whether or not it's still vague. He claims that there are two types of battles, a fight to protect life and a fight to protect honor. In my opinion, I think they end up being the same thing, the heart."

Byakuya's frown didn't fade from his face and he turned away to stifle a snort. "How lame."

"Oi! I'm being serious!" Kaien shouted, smacking the back of Byakuya's head again. "Let me ask you this then! Where is the heart?"

"Isn't it right here?" Byakuya asked, thumping his fist against his chest with a confused look.

"Maybe," Kaien said, and held his fist up between the two, "but I think that _this_ is where the heart lies. Every time you and I connect with each other, a little bit of 'heart' is torn between us. The heart isn't something inside you, but whenever you think, whenever you remember someone, that's when the heart is born. If you were the only person alive in this world, the heart wouldn't exist now, would it?"

Byakuya's eyes widened in understanding and he looked away, realizing that Kaien was trying to get him to share his metaphorical heart with him. Kaien was very openly sharing his heart with him, and despite the magnificent speech he had given, Byakuya still refused to share a piece of himself. Perhaps he was heartless. It seemed to be the only suitable explanation.

"Alright, alright, I get it," Kaien said, lightly patting him on the back. "Byakuya-kun, if you won't share your heart with me, then share it with somebody else. It must get awfully lonely, yeah? Anyways, one last thing. Whenever you fight from this point on, there is one thing that you must never do. Don't you dare die alone, Byakuya."

"Die alone?" Byakuya echoed with a horrified look.

"Yes, never die alone," Kaien reiterated firmly. "Our bodies are composed entirely from spirit energy. If we die, our bodies will disintegrate and become part of the reishi that inhabits the Soul Society. What happens to your heart then? Your heart will be passed onto your nakama. If you pass it on to them, then your heart will always live on within them. Swear it, Asahi, that you will never, _never_ die alone.

"I swear it," Byakuya answered, sincerely, and wondered that if he was dying, who would he be leaving his heart with? Rukia? Noriyuki? Hisana? God forbid it be Kaien or Ren. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to die in peace, knowing that Rukia was out there and inwardly cringed at the mere thought of entrusting his life's quest of finding her again to somebody else.

But if Byakuya really was as heartless as he had suspected, then perhaps there would be no heart to leave behind, and honestly, he'd be okay with that, too.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach!**

Thank you ZALXERO, sky, Girls In White Dresses, Sabathiel, and CrossroadsofLife for reviewing!

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><p>The last few weeks of the first year had been hectic. Hisana had buried herself in her studies, determined to rank well, and had even begged her grandfather to help her with her Zanjutsu. To get better, he had forced her to spar with some of the officers in his company, and Hisana had been miserably beaten every single time.<p>

The worst one had to have been the Kidō written exam. Hisana had to memorize incantations for both Bakudō and Hadō spells as well as know the number of each spell. It had been an absolute nightmare and Hisana spent her time poring over flashcards, memorizing them both ways. Noriyuki shared the same hate for Kidō with her and spent much of his time sharing her flashcards and chugging tea to stay awake. When their Sensei called time on the day of the Kidō exam, Hisana immediately pitched forward onto her desk with an exhausted sigh of relief and slammed her forehead down onto her desk while Noriyuki slumped back in his seat, looking rather defeated.

The other classes did not give Hisana much trouble, except for Zanjutsu. Mikado-sensei had decided that the final for their class would be a one on one battle with an upperclassman student. The entire class had looked at Mikado-sensei with a horrified look at the realization that they would have to battle somebody who was twice as skilled as they were.

"You don't always get to choose the strength of your opponent," Mikado-sensei explained and Hisana couldn't help but to glance at Ren as her sensei echoed the words he had already told her so long ago. He instructed his students to file into a single-order line to randomly draw a slip of paper. Each one had the name of an upperclassman who would be their opponent.

"Tsuchimiya Jun-senpai?" Hisana hesitantly called out as she read a name off her slip. She scanned the group of Mikado-sensei's upperclassmen students and a handsome male nodded to her with a smile. "Ah," she murmured leaving her friends behind to meet him. "Hello," she said kindly. "I'm Kuchiki Hisana."

"Hello," he replied. "Are you all first years?"

"Yes," she said with a nod. "What year are you?"

"I'm in the third year of my accelerated program," he answered.

Hisana's eyes went wide at his statement. "Accelerated program? You mean to say you are part of Sensei's elite class?"

"Yes," Jun nodded. "Did you apply?"

"Ah, yes, barely made the deadline. I've already had my interview as well, so I'm just waiting on the selection letters," she replied.

"Good luck! Mikado-sensei is the best there is so I'm sure you'd be able to get accepted under his tutelage," Jun commented with a smile.

"Come, come," Mikado-sensei said, after each student was paired off with a senpai to battle. He randomly chose a pair to battle, allowing the other students to watch and witness their triumphs and mistakes. When it was Hisana and Jun's turn, she looked at her senpai with a nervous look.

"Hey, relax, I'll go easy on you," he said charmingly, trying to make her feel better.

"No, don't," she said seriously. "You don't get to choose the strength of your opponent. That was the point of this lesson, wasn't it?"

Jun grinned at her and fondly patted her on the shoulder. "You're a bright one. I'm sure you're going to do well," he said as he led her to the center of the training grounds. They bowed down to each other in respect and both resumed a basic offensive stance. "I bet you, that I can win this battle using only one sword," he said, gesturing to the sword in his left hand. "You better treat this like a battle to the death!"

When Mikado-sensei signaled that it was alright to begin, Hisana lunged right at Jun, moving to strike him hard in the chest. He moved so fast that she had barely even registered that her blade hit his. "I said this was a death match. Come at me with the intent to kill," he said warningly, and pushed her back easily with his left hand.

Hisana pulled back, suddenly realizing that compared to the officers that her grandfather had made her spar with, Jun wasn't nearly as good as any of them. Thankful for the brutal beatings she endured, she felt much better, knowing that Jun wouldn't be as fast or as strong as those officers. She was able to deflect each of his blows and keep up with him with some effort.

After another failed attempt at trying to land a hit on him, Jun shook his head with disappointment. "I'm not going to lie; I was expecting more from a Kuchiki," he taunted, purposefully baiting her. "I worry for the future of the Kuchiki's at this rate."

"You're wrong!" Hisana hissed, taking him head on.

"That's more like it," Jun grinned, finally seeing that intent to kill in her eyes. He moved his sword, ready to block her, but she had done something completely unexpected. She ducked low, beneath his sword and struck with her hilt, hitting him in the stomach and knocking the air out of him. By reflex, Jun used his right hand to push her back.

"Alright, that's enough," Mikado-sensei said, halting their battle. "You did good, Tsuchimiya. You, too, Kuchiki."

"You're really good," Jun commented, now that they were finished.

"Oh please, you defeated me!" Hisana said sheepishly. "I could barely even land a hit on you."

"Yes, but I thought I could do it with only one of my swords," he pointed out. "I ended up having to use both of them to fend you off. You'll definitely be getting an A for this class."

"Thanks," Hisana said, extremely flattered by his comment and she smiled happily at him.

"I hope you know that I didn't mean any of those things I said," Jun added, wanting to clear the air with her. "You have so much potential; you just don't realize it. I hoped to have angered you just to have seen a little bit of that potential."

"It's alright," she answered, knowing that he hadn't meant it at all. "We all get a little carried away in battles, no?"

"Yeah, me especially," Jun laughed and then glanced to the next pair selected to fight. "Come, let's watch the next battle. I heard this Asahi Byakuya is the number one of your class. It's only fitting that he would get paired with the number one from my class," Jun said, leading her to the sidelines to sit. "That's Takano Kyouya," he said, pointing him out to her. "He's an asshole, but he's really talented."

Hisana nodded, watching with interest as Byakuya and Takano approached each other. They bowed to each other, following Mikado-sensei's rules and then both resumed an offensive stance to begin.

"I heard you're this class's number one student," Takano stated.

"You heard right," Byakuya answered, already disliking this guy. Then again, Byakuya disliked almost everybody he met.

Takano glanced to the sword Byakuya was using and frowned. "Don't tell me that's one of the swords Mikado-sensei lent out at the beginning of the year."

"It is," Byakuya answered in a clipped tone as he masked his confusion. What did it matter? A sword was a sword.

"You're probably thinking that a sword is just a sword, huh?" Takano stated, reading the younger student like a book. Byakuya stared at him with a stunned look and raised his guard to hide any other emotion that was threatening to spill out. "You are going to see that a mere sword pales in comparison to a _real_ zanpakutō."

Takano attacked Byakuya first, landing a hard blow that Byakuya was barely able to deflect. The sheer strength emanating from Takano's zanpakutō was overpowering and Byakuya had to pull back and keep a distance between them until he could have come up with a better strategy to fight his senpai. Takano, already figuring out his strategy, was quick to close the distance, thus refusing Byakuya the time to analyze his situation. Byakuya was forced to keep his guard up as he deflected each and every one of Takano's strikes. It was then, that he realized what his senpai was trying to say. The sword he was using was absolutely useless and he would have been better off using a stick.

"I win," Takano said, landing the final blow and snapping Byakuya's sword in two.

"Not yet," Byakuya growled, determined not to lose.

"What are you going to do? Come at me with a broken blade? I've already told you that everything pales in comparison to a real zanpakutō," Takano stated.

"Then I'll come at you with a zanpakutō," Byakuya answered, dropping the broken sword and concentrated on his spiritual energy. He had tried so many times before to try and solidify his energy into sword form in an attempt to catch up to Ren, but he had failed so many times before. Seeing that Mikado-sensei was quite interested in Byakuya's determination and was in no mood to end the battle, Takano was quick to keep Byakuya moving on his feet, not giving him a single moment of rest. "Back off," Byakuya growled, pushing Takano back with a quick kidō spell.

His senpai was thrown off-guard temporarily, forgetting that Mikado-sensei was always lenient with his students and encouraged them to use the techniques they had learned from their other classes. Already annoyed with the underclassman, Takano flash-stepped to Byakuya, ready to end the match for good. He struck down hard, intending to knock Byakuya out cold.

Suddenly, Byakuya, who had somehow been able to keep up with his movements, deflected with a sword. "You solidified it in this amount of time?" Takano gasped, surprised that Byakuya had such determination to do so.

"Enough," Mikado-sensei finally said, separating the two. "Good job, Asahi. You never fail to surprise me," he complimented and then dismissed them.

"Byakuya-san, that was amazing!" Hisana exclaimed, motioning for him to sit next to her and Jun.

"That look on Kyouya's face was priceless!" Jun laughed as he congratulated Byakuya on his victory. "Your year is filled with a lot of talent. I see a good future for all of you. I'm going to go rub it in his face now," he added cheerily as he said his goodbyes to his new kouhais. "Stay in touch! I really look forward to all that you guys amount to."

"Byakuya-san, you're so cool," Hisana admitted as she looked at his newly solidified zanpakutō. "Next thing you need to do is learn its name!"

"Right," Byakuya said, looking down at his sword. Mentally, he tried to reach out for it, hoping to get some sort of response, but received nothing in return. Well, he would have all summer to work on that, and he'd be thrilled if he could learn its name before Ren could learn his. "You'd better be the next to solidify yours."

"Haha, that'll take a while," Hisana laughed sheepishly as she glanced down to the sword that Mikado-sensei had lent her at the beginning of the year. "I've been trying to no avail. Maybe I need to be in a desperate situation like you were."

"The adrenaline helps," Byakuya said lightly in a joking manner.

"Your lessons with Kaien-dono must be paying off," she commented. She no longer held a grudge about this, finally getting over it after her grandfather had agreed to help her with Zanjutsu.

"You've improved a lot, too," he replied, and wondered if she had gotten herself a private tutor as well.

"And I'm going to keep improving," she answered. "I'm going to be training myself all summer," she explained. "Are you and Nori-chan staying here?"

"For the summer? No," Byakuya said, shaking his head. "I still have some... business in the Districts. Nori's coming with just because he misses home."

"Well, stay in touch then! We can write to each other, right?" she said hopefully.

"Of course," Byakuya promised. "Do you want to pinky promise that?" he teased as he offered her his finger.

"You bet I do," she giggled, linking fingers with him. "We're friends, alright? Stay in touch with me, and I wish you best of luck." Unbeknownst to them, Ren had witnessed the whole thing with a bothered look.

After Mikado-sensei dismissed them all, Natsumi and Hisana decided that they should all hang out one last time before break as Ren and Natsumi would be leaving for vacation, Byakuya and Noriyuki would be returning to Rukon, and Hisana would be staying behind.

As they were leaving, Ren abruptly grabbed Byakuya by the shoulder, pulling him back and slamming him into the wall. "Ah! Asahi-san and I have something to take care of! Please go on ahead. We'll catch up to you," Ren said cheerfully to Hisana as he made sure to keep Byakuya pinned down.

Byakuya grabbed Ren's arm, pushing him off, and determined not to lose his temper, coolly inquired, "What do you want, Andou-san?"

"Kuchiki-san may be oblivious, but I'm not," Ren stated with a frown.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Byakuya answered, about to make his leave, but Ren grabbed him by the shoulder again, probably having the intention to pin him to the wall again to keep him in place. Byakuya, who hated to be touched, bristled, and angrily seized Ren's arm to throw him. So much for keeping his cool.

Ren landed with a thud, caught off guard, and grabbed Byakuya's leg to throw him off balance, causing him to face plant into the floor. "I'm not stupid. I see the way you look at her!" he hissed.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Byakuya answered insistently with a growl as he started swatting at Ren to keep him away.

"Stop lying!" Ren shouted as he pulled away from Byakuya's swatting. "She's _mine_, alright? I don't care if you admire her from afar, but don't you dare act on your feelings!"

"Is that what this is? You're establishing your territory?" he answered, meeting Ren's steely gaze. "Hisana is not an object. You can't just tell me to stay away from her."

"I can and I will," Ren replied, keeping a good swath of distance from between himself and his rival. "And I'd never dare to treat Kuchiki-san as an object. She's so much more than that."

"Just because you have a higher social rank than I do does not give you the right to tell me who I can and cannot be friends with," Byakuya growled, refusing to back down and obey this noble's command.

"It does when it concerns my fiancée," Ren retorted, and winced as he let the words slip out. He had promised his father to keep things quiet, and he knew he shouldn't have used his pending engagement to Hisana to hurt Byakuya. He froze upon hearing this, staring at Ren with an open mouth. "You heard me right," Ren said quietly. "You never had a chance with her to begin with. Just give up."

Losing his temper completely and seeing red, Byakuya threw himself at Ren, attempting to hit him as the noble beneath him tried to hit him back. "What is the meaning of this?" Mikado-sensei bellowed, shocked to see such behavior from his top two students. He pulled Byakuya off of Ren, seething with fury, to see them acting so immaturely and practically wrestling each other in the training compound.

"I'm sorry, Sensei, this was all my fault," Ren said, sitting up slowly and then moved into a kowtow position to show his sincerity. "I provoked him."

"You two are supposed to be a team!" Mikado-sensei shouted, venting out his anger on the two. "No matter how much you dislike each other, proper Shinigami never settle their arguments with a fist, unless you're a barbarian like the Eleventh, but the point is, you two are not primitive, and should have known better!" He sighed with disappointment at the two, wondering what on earth could have caused such a disagreement. "I should expel the both of you for this, but it's your first offense and I'm rather fond of you two..."

He sighed again, seeing that Byakuya was still shaking with anger and glanced to Ren who hadn't moved a muscle since bowing down. "The both of you are going to be cleaning the training compounds after class for all of the next semester," Mikado-sensei decided. It seemed to be a fair punishment in his opinion, forcing them to work together again and solve their problems. "You'll put up all the training equipment and be sure to make sure the floors shine."

"Yes, Sensei," they both murmured quietly.

"Now, do I get to know what caused such uncouth behavior?" he asked. Ren bit his lip, refusing to answer and Byakuya looked away, also having no intention of answering such a thing. Mikado-sensei rolled his eyes, muttering something about immature teenagers under his breath and left, dragging them with him.

"What happened?" Hisana gasped, seeing Ren's black eye and Byakuya's disheveled appearance.

"We fell," Ren answered.

"Down the stairs," Byakuya added.

"Together?" Natsumi clarified with a skeptical look.

"Yes," they both answered, sticking to their poor story. "We dragged each other down."

"Bullshit," Noriyuki said with disbelief, flat-out calling them on their bluff. "Andou-san, what on earth could you have landed on to get a black eye?"

"The hilt of Byakuya-san's sword," he answered without missing a beat. "It's a miracle I didn't poke my eye out."

To Ren and Byakuya's relief, Hisana came to their rescue. "Nori-chan, weird things happen all the time! I'm sure they were just a little bit clumsy, so let's drop it, alright?"

Noriyuki squinted at Byakuya, silently warning him that he would be questioning him about this later and then put on a smile for Hisana. "Let's go eat! And then we can talk about the upperclassmen we got paired with!" He immediately went to Natsumi's side, complimenting her on her battle.

Hisana couldn't help but to notice that both Ren and Byakuya seemed to be avoiding her that day.

* * *

><p>"So, what the hell happened between you and Andou-san?" Noriyuki asked the moment they had returned to their dorms.<p>

"It was nothing," Byakuya said, just wanting the whole thing to blow over. He was still upset with himself for losing his temper.

"It was about Hisana-chan, wasn't it?" he hesitantly guessed. "I told you that Andou-san would get mad at you eventually."

"They're engaged," Byakuya blurted out.

"What? No way," Noriyuki answered, unable to believe such a thing.

"She didn't tell me," Byakuya said, annoyed with Hisana's lack of honesty. He knew that there was _something_ between them, but he couldn't believe that she would keep such a secret from him. "Don't I deserve to know if she's leading me on?"

"Don't say it like that," Noriyuki said defensively. "This has to be some kind of misunderstanding. Hisana-chan isn't the kind of person to do that."

"I don't know what to think anymore," Byakuya confessed, feeling stressed and confused.

"You really are in love with her, aren't you?" Noriyuki quietly asked.

"Yeah, I am, and it's driving me insane," he answered, finally admitting defeat. "This was a bad idea, Nori, I told you from the beginning that I stood no chance against Ren."

"_Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all__?_" Noriyuki asked.

"Did you just quote Tennyson to me?" Byakuya asked with disbelief. "Since when do you read poetry?"

"You're avoiding the main topic, and yes, I do read poetry. Natsumi-chan thinks it's romantic," he replied as a matter-of-factly.

"Right now, I'd rather not love at all," Byakuya answered with a heavy sigh. "I won't think of myself until I know that Rukia is safe."

"You can't keep putting Rukia first," Noriyuki said quietly. "We've been looking for her for so long now. Byakuya, this isn't healthy. Please think of your happiness."

"How can you say that, Nori? It was because of my selfishness and cowardice that I abandoned her in the first place!" Byakuya snapped, upset. "She has to pay the price for my mistakes, and you want me to be happy as if she never existed?"

"I didn't mean it that way," Noriyuki said, going for the door to leave. "I worry for you sometimes. We're supposed to be best friends, no, _brothers,_ but sometimes you're so far away that I don't even know who you are anymore. I'm going out to let you cool off. I'm sorry, please forget that I said anything."

The door clicked closed behind him and Byakuya stared at the plain door for several long moments in deep thought as he recalled Kaien's heart speech. Byakuya let out a bitter laugh and fell back onto his bed. He really was a heartless bastard if the one person he had trusted the most couldn't even recognize him.

On the day they had to move out, Byakuya and Noriyuki were getting the last of their belongings together. They had been able to pack up their belonging in their dorms rather quickly due to their lack of extraneous possessions. When finished, Noriyuki had gone to the Academy's bookstore to sell back their textbooks and bumped into Natsumi on the way back.

"You're leaving?" she asked, a little bit surprised.

"Yup, gotta go back home in Rukon," he answered and then slyly added, "Why? Are you going to miss me?"

"Pft! As if!" she scoffed, looking away. "I was surprised that you're _still_ here. A summer break away from you is perfect, considering I'll be stuck with you for the rest of my career at Shino."

Noriyuki stared at her, not at all offended by her words as she had hoped he would be. Of course, by now, he already figured out she was had a tsundere personality, and knew that he was slowly surpassing her standards for men. "Here, in case you get lonely," he said, pulling out a pen and very neatly writing his phone number on her arm.

"Eh?" she gaped, staring at it with a shock.

"See you next year," Noriyuki said with a mysterious smile as he bid her farewell.

Meanwhile, Hisana had stopped by Byakuya's room, hoping to catch him before he and Noriyuki left. "Oh, thank goodness you're still here," she said, pausing at the open doorway.

"Do you need something?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

"I just wanted to say good-bye, that's all," she said, a little unnerved by his hostility. "Did I do something wrong?"

Byakuya exhaled a breath of air and looked away. "No, I got into a fight with Noriyuki, that's all."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, seeing that Noriyuki wasn't in the room at all. "Make up with him soon. You two have gone through so much together to lose it all over a little spat."

"I know, we just need some time to cool off," he answered, uneasy about her engagement with Ren. He could only wish that she was just as clueless as he was, and that she didn't even know that she was to be married to Ren.

"Promise me you'll write?" Hisana asked hopefully, offering him her pinky as she reminded him of their promise.

Byakuya stared at it for a second and put on a forced a smile. "I promise."

That summer, he didn't keep his promise.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach!**

Quick note: Ren's zanpakutō based on Kirigakure Shura's sword, but has the name of Okumura Rin's blade, both from _Ao no Exorcist._

Thank you, Girls In White Dresses, ZALXERO, thayet9, sky, Sabathiel and CrossroadsofLife for reviewing~!

* * *

><p>Summer had been awfully lonely for both Byakuya and Hisana. She had been heartbroken to find that he had not written her a single text, email or letter, and even worse was that he had ignored everything she had sent him. In her desperation, she had written to Noriyuki who had flat out lied to her face and told her that Byakuya had lost his phone.<p>

Hisana spent most of her days training in the Kuchiki courtyard by herself. Her father would watch her train and would often point out whatever flaws he saw. He had been the lieutenant of the Sixth Company under Ginrei once, but he had failed as a lieutenant and endured a wound that ended his career as a Shinigami. Occasionally, her grandfather would stop by and survey the progress she was making. He, too, would point out her mistakes, but took delight to see that she was improving every day. When Hisana had finally solidified her reiryoku into a sword form, she was met with praise from both Ginrei and Sojun. Not long after, she had received her acceptance letter into Shinô's elite acceleration program and had been absolutely ecstatic. After seeing the pride in both of their eyes, she felt so much more confident about herself and her skills and for once, she received an approving look from her father as well as encouragement to hurry up and learn her zanpakutō's name and shikai.

Shortly after, the Andous returned from their vacation and like he had promised, Ren spent more time with Hisana, with and without Natsumi. When prompted about Byakuya and Noriyuki, Hisana shook her head sadly and explained that they wouldn't be coming back to the Seireitei until their second year started. Oddly, it was Natsumi who seemed to be bothered about that, and Ren, who couldn't have been more glad. For all of them, summer went by too slowly.

For Byakuya and Noriyuki, however, summer went by too quickly. When they returned home, Takeshi and Yuriko greeted them kindly and welcomed them with the utmost joy. They found out that Takeshi no longer had any desire to become a Shinigami and decided he would live out his days with Yuriko and they would start a new family, finally, something that Noriyuki believed was long overdue. Byakuya spent most of his days training and when he wasn't training, he was out looking for his missing sister. Noriyuki, however, chose to sleep in and lounge around all day, clicking away on the keypad of his phone and exchanging texts with a mysterious person every day

"Byakuya, Hisana-chan wants to know how you are," Noriyuki drawled, looking up from his phone. "Have you talked to her at all?"

"No, what does it matter?" Byakuya asked. His phone had been turned off the moment break started and he had no intentions of turning to check his messages or send any.

"You're mad because she's engaged," Noriyuki mumbled quietly as he put his phone away. "I think you might be misunderstanding everything. You didn't even give her a chance to explain. What if Andou-san made it up to anger you?"

"I doubt that," Byakuya answered, being the pessimist he was. "They're engaged, Nori, now just drop it!"

"She always texts me asking about you," Noriyuki said quietly. "If she really did love Andou-san, then why is she always asking about you?" Byakuya looked at him, at a loss for words, and shook his head, unable to answer. Noriyuki would have come up with an answer anyways. "I think you jump to conclusions too quickly and that you're just afraid of opening yourself up to people. The fact that she's a Kuchiki doesn't help either, does it? Remember what Shiba-fukutaichou said? It's not fair to treat her that way."

"When did you become so smart and insightful?" Byakuya asked sarcastically, still in a foul mood as it seemed that Noriyuki's speech made no impression on him at all. "I may be afraid to open myself up, but that still has nothing to do with her engagement to Andou-san."

"God, you're so stupid sometimes," Noriyuki sighed, giving up on his best friend. Hisana would be the one that got away, and he knew that Byakuya would regret it one day.

When summer break was over and it was time to return to Shinô, Hisana had texted Noriyuki, hoping to meet up with him and Byakuya. He had replied right away, but had sadly informed her that Byakuya would be unable to join them. Bothered by this, Hisana knew that she would have to corner him eventually and force an answer out of him for his rude behavior.

"Hisana-chan!" Noriyuki exclaimed, happy to see her as they shared a friendly embrace. "I somehow made it into the Elite program! So did Byakuya, but did you all make it, too?"

"Yeah, we all did! Looks like we'll all be together with Mikado-sensei again," Hisana said cheerfully, and couldn't help but to notice the happy looks exchanged between Noriyuki and Natsumi. "Why couldn't Byakuya-san join us?"

"Um, he had an issue with registration so he has to clear that up," Noriyuki answered and Hisana couldn't help but to frown at the lie she was given again.

"We'll meet up with him later, Hisana-san," Ren assured her with a smile. "After all, we'll be in the same class together, right?"

"Right," she murmured as she followed him to their first class. They had taken their seats on the bleachers and Hisana noticed Byakuya sitting all by his lonesome at the end and motioned for him to join her and the others. However, as luck would have it, he had not seen her and she had been the only one to see him as Natsumi urgently tugged her down to her seat so Mikado-sensei could start class.

"Greetings, Class!" Mikado-sensei exclaimed when class begun. "Welcome to your second year Zanjutsu class. For those who have taken Zanjutsu with me last year, I can guarantee that this class is more difficult and will require more effort. If you fall behind, I will not hesitate in expelling you from the Accelerated Elite Program."

He paused, skimming over his roster for two particular students and then to the crowd to find their faces. "Ah! There you are. Asahi Byakuya and Andou Ren! My number one and two, respectively. How about we start off the class with some friendly sparring? I hope you two have been practicing over summer holidays!"

"Hello," Ren said politely, leaving Hisana's side to face Byakuya in the center of the training compound.

"Hello," Byakuya answered, as Mikado-sensei ushered the rest of the students off to the side.

"Remember! This is friendly sparring!" Mikado-sensei reminded, and Byakuya stifled a small snort, recalling that Ren didn't know the meaning of 'friendly.'

"Did you practice much over break?" Ren asked casually, drawing out his zanpakutō and resuming an offensive stance.

"I did," Byakuya answered as he resumed a defensive stance. "I'll assume you did, too?"

"Ah, not as much as I should have," Ren laughed, dashing forward to land the first blow. "I spent the summer playing around with Hisana-san."

Byakuya bristled at the comment, knowing that Ren was only trying to bait him and throw him off. "I suppose that's why you're a little out of shape..." he smoothly remarked, easily dodging Ren's swipe. If anything, Byakuya had practiced his Hohou all summer, and had mastered it to the point where he wouldn't stumble over his own feet.

Ren grinned at Byakuya's comment, refusing to let it get to him. Seeing his opening, he slammed his blade down against Byakuya's, already starting to manipulate the force into a numbing shockwave. Byakuya, recognizing the technique, pulled back too late, wincing as he lost the feeling in his arm. Thinking quickly, he slammed the hilt of his sword into his arm, disrupting the oscillating wave and causing the numbness to fade instantly.

"You're clever," Ren remarked, "But you're not going to be able to use your hand at full capacity for a while." He smiled, seeing that Byakuya was still feeling the effect of his stunning technique. "Sensei! Permission to use my shikai?" he shouted, glancing to their instructor.

Mikado-sensei seemed surprised that Ren already knew his zanpakutō's name and reluctantly nodded and gave him the okay. "Andou, just be careful!" he said warningly.

"Kirigakure Ryuu, Kōmaken Kurikara," Ren said, running his hand down the flat edge of his blade, transforming it beneath his touch. Kurikara transformed into a long broadsword with a curved edge. Byakuya stepped back, trying to analyze Ren's zanpakutō quickly. Judging from its length and the sheer size of it, it was easy to deduce that he had a melee type zanpakutō. Ren attacked immediately, not giving Byakuya any time to analyze Kurikara or strategize anymore, forcing him to parry each of Kurikara's powerful blows.

Kurikara's long reach gave Ren the advantage in that he could fight without having to get too close to his opponent. Seeing that Ren couldn't exactly fight close-combat with Kurikara's reach, Byakuya attempted to push him into a corner and put him on the defensive. Realizing this, Ren suddenly pulled back, putting a large amount of distance between himself and Byakuya. Kurikara's blade began to glow and Ren cut through the air, launching a projectile of energy at his opponent.

Caught off-guard, Byakuya flash stepped out of the way, attempting to dodge it. However, Ren was fast and read his movements quickly, firing off another one of his projectiles. Seeing that he couldn't dodge, Byakuya gritted his teeth and dropped his blade. "Chire, Senbonzakura," he hissed, causing his sword to disintegrate into cherry blossom blades. The blades surrounded Byakuya, taking the blow from Ren's projectiles, leaving him completely unscathed.

"Alright! That's enough!" Mikado-sensei shouted, intercepting the two of them before Byakuya could attack back or Ren could destroy the battlefield any further.

Ren lowered his sword in awe and surprise. "You've learned your zanpakutō's name as well?" Kurikara returned to her sealed state and he sheathed it with care. "You never cease to surprise me."

"Thank you, you surprised me as well," Byakuya answered, sealing Senbonzakura and glancing to Kurikara warily. "I didn't expect you to have a Kidō-based zanpakutō."

"Ha, ironic, isn't it? It's my worst subject and that's the battle style she chooses," Ren grinned, bowing down to Byakuya and then shook his hand to declare that their battle had come out to be a tie. "I would have loved to see what type your zanpakutō was. Perhaps another time."

"Another time," Byakuya agreed as the class applauded them on their performance.

They returned to their seats on the bleachers, and upon seeing that Byakuya was heading back to where he had previously sat alone, Ren carefully tapped him on the shoulder, recalling the last time Byakuya had flung him when he had grabbed him. "You're going the wrong way. We're all sitting over there," he said, pointing to the rest of their friends.

Hisana offered Byakuya a meek smile as he took his seat next to Noriyuki. He looked away from her, as if avoiding making eye contact with her and listened as Mikado-sensei went ahead to assign their mock squads once more. There was hardly any change from the assignments they were given the first year and mostly, everybody was glad to see a familiar face, Hisana included when she found out she was with both Byakuya and Ren again. She had half-expected Natsumi to get upset that she was with Noriyuki again, but there was a mysterious smile exchanged between the two of them and if anything, she seemed quite pleased to work with him again. Uehara Chiaki was their third person again, but he was absent due to his extended vacation.

"Both Ren-kun and Byakuya-san are amazing," Hisana commented when class was dismissed. "My reiryoku solidified over break, but I still have such a long way to go before I even learn its name..."

"Train with me some more, Hisana-san, and you'll learn its name in no time!" Ren said with a wink and Byakuya bristled at the realization that Ren and Hisana were both on a familiar, first-name basis.

"Don't worry about it, Hisana-chan!" Natsumi said assuringly. "Ren-nii and Asahi-kun are Zanjutsu geniuses. Norichi and I don't even know the name of ours, either!"

_"Norichi...?"_Hisana thought to herself, wondering when Natsumi had started referring to him in such an affectionate manner.

In her thoughts, she almost missed the guilty look that flashed across Noriyuki's face, but he quickly masked it with a coy smile and nodded to Natsumi's comment. "Natsumi-chan's right," he said agreeably. "I'm anxious to learn my zanpakutō's name, too, so you're wrong to think that you're the only one." Noriyuki was such a terrible liar, and it seemed to be that Natsumi was the only one who didn't see through him. Hisana decided to leave him alone, as did Byakuya and Ren. They would wait until he was willing to share the name of his zanpakutō with them.

"Byakuya-san, how was your summer?" Hisana asked, curiously, unable to bear it any longer.

"It was alright," he answered in a clipped tone, making her frown.

"Hey, now that we're all back together again, let's go out and eat. I'm starving!" Noriyuki exclaimed, seeing how desperate Hisana was, vying for Byakuya's attention. It would have been almost pathetic under different circumstances.

"What a great idea! Then we can talk all about our summer break!" Natsumi exclaimed, walking at Noriyuki's side. "Hisana-chan and I found this great place just the other when we together."

"That sounds great," Noriyuki agreed, and grabbed Byakuya before he could get away. "Natsumi-chan, how was your summer?" he asked, fading to small talk with Natsumi.

Hisana had many more attempts to try and coax Byakuya out of his shell, but he coldly brushed her off each time, breaking her heart just a little bit more. Ren, noticing this, went out of his way to get in between them and happily said, "Hisana-san, are you going to be coming over later today again?"

Byakuya stiffened immediately, and Noriyuki's mouth dropped open in surprise. "Um," Hisana started, seeing Byakuya and Noriyuki's reaction, "Maybe not today. I know it's only the first day of classes, but I'd really like to get ahead."

"Of course. We'd probably just get _distracted_," Ren grinned.

"I have to go," Byakuya murmured, already excusing himself from the group. He couldn't stand being around them anymore and hated how close Hisana and Ren had grown over the summer. He figured that Ren would have proposed to her by now and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to olerate having to congratulate them on their engagement.

Hisana frowned, wondering why he had closed himself off to everybody and become so distant. Without thinking, she stood up with him, nearly slapping her hands on the table. When everyone looked at her expectantly, she choked out, "Me too. I have to go, too, sorry." Turning to Byakuya, she forced a smile and added, "I'll walk out with you."

Byakuya bit his lip, obviously unhappy with her forwardness, but now that he was put on the spot, he was unable to reject her. "Sure," he answered coolly and waited patiently as Hisana quickly threw everything into her bag and followed him out.

"How was your summer, Byakuya-san?" she asked again cheerily as if nothing had happened between them. She had hoped that he would give her a different answer now that they were alone.

"It was alright," he answered in a clipped tone, repeating the same words he had earlier and breaking her heart just a little bit more. His voice was so hollow, and detached that it left her devastated.

Undeterred, Hisana swallowed hard and forced herself to smile and continued on. "I'm so glad you're doing well. My summer was alright, too. I finally solidified my reiryoku and Jiji-sama was so pleased and happy and even my father was happy for a little bit. I still can't believe you learned your zanpakutō's name in such a short amount of time! You truly are amazing. Hey, are you on your way to see Kaien-dono right now?"

"What are you doing?" Byakuya sighed, unable to take this anymore.

"What do you mean?" she asked, looking rather hurt by his words. "I'm just talking with you."

"Why?" he clarified, twisting the knife in her heart deeper. He stepped off the path they had been walking on and looked away to the scenery behind him. There was a steep slope where Kaien would always take him to train whenever he was too lazy to make the trek down to Mt. Koifushi.

"I'm reaching out to you, Byakuya-san. You're so cold and distant and I'm worried because I don't recognize you anymore," she said as her eyes began to water. She bit her lip and wiped them away hastily.

"Why do you want to break into my life to such extent?" Byakuya demanded. His voice lost that dry edge to it and Hisana was so glad to hear that there was still some emotion left in him.

"We're friends, Byakuya-san, I want to know you better. Is that so wrong?" she answered stubbornly.

"You'd _never_ understand," he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"How do you know? You don't ever let anyone in. I could understand if you gave me a chance!" she proclaimed. With tears still brimming her eyes, she angrily demanded, "Why didn't you write to me? I really did wait for you. A letter, an email, anything would have done. Why didn't you?

"What does it matter? It's not like you were _lonely_. I heard you spent the summer with Andou-san," Byakuya snapped, voice dripping with venom.

She tensed at that comment, eyes going wide. "Leave Ren-kun out of this. This is between you and me, and why you didn't bother to write to me at all. I thought we were friends! Friends write! Even Nori-chan wrote to me."

Byakuya shrugged. "I honestly didn't think you were serious. If I had known you were going to be so bothered about it, then I would have written something."

"You find me insincere?" Hisana asked, a little bit offended by this.

"No, I find you patronizing," he replied offhandedly.

"How dare you!" Hisana hissed, offended by this. "I've been nothing but kind to you, and this is how you react?"

"I don't need your kindness," Byakuya answered. "I'm not your charity case, _Kuchiki-sama_," he said, spitting out her title.

"No!" she snapped, balling her hand into a fist and thumping it hard against his chest. "Take it back."

"What? That I don't need you?" he inquired as he reached for her wrist to stop her from hitting him.

"Just take it back!" she said, practically having a breakdown as she broke free from his weak hold and continued to hit him in the chest.

"Oi, idiot, this is dangerous," Byakuya warned darkly as he stepped back, minding the steep slope behind him.

Hisana was relentless, and continued demanding for him to take whatever it was back when suddenly, she stumbled into him. The force of her unexpected movement propelled him backwards, his upper body bending over her protectively as he staggered. He attempted to backpedal and regain his footing, but he slipped and fell back, dragging Hisana with him, as they slid down the slope. His arms had instinctively snapped closed around her, protectively, and his heart pounded against his chest as they finally slowed to a stop. Hisana clutched at the front of his uniform, her face buried in his chest, and he could feel the dampness of her tears through his shirt.

"I can be 'Kuchiki-sama' for anyone but you," she said softly after moments of silence. "Take it back. To you, I just want to be Hisana."

"I take it back, now get off. You're heavy," Byakuya said, voice starting to become cold again.

"Why don't you ever let me in?" Hisana demanded, sitting up and looking at him with a tearstained face. "What happened to you, Byakuya? Why are you like this? Why won't you give me a piece of your heart?"

"I'm heartless," he answered, finding solace in that measly excuse.

"Maybe right now you are, but you weren't before," she declared. "Give me a piece of your heart and let me in for once. What we have right now, it's not a friendship. I don't even know who you are anymore."

"Have you considered that maybe I don't want to be your friend?" Byakuya answered angrily as he abruptly sat up to face her. "You're so naïve and ignorant that you don't realize the effect you have on me. I don't want to be your friend. I want _more_."

"More?" Hisana repeated as she let go of his uniform instantly. "Byakuya-san, you don't mean—"

Byakuya cut her off abruptly with a kiss. "I do mean that," he said, pulling away slowly to look her in the eyes. "I like you, Hisana."

She let out a soft gasp was rendered frozen in place by both his bold actions and the sound of his voice. He had finally sounded like his old self again and lost that terrible disconnected tone that she was so afraid she would have to become accustomed to. Her heart swelled with elated joy upon the realization that he was still the same person she knew. "I-I..." she stammered weakly, finding that her words were failing her and her heart was thumping so hard in her chest she could swear he could hear it too. Unable to voice out her feelings, she chose to kiss him back, clinging to his broad shoulders.

"I know you're engaged," he said quietly as he pulled away from her, causing her to freeze in place and stare at him in shock.

"I'm what...?" she gaped at him, eyes wide with surprise and confusion. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Then explain this?" Byakuya ordered gently as he tugged on the chain of her necklace. The silver and pretty jewel glittered brightly under the sunlight.

She stared at Byakuya with a shocked look as she snatched the necklace from him. "You think that this is an engagement ring? From my mystery fiancé?"

"A promise ring then?" he asked.

She glared at him, shaking her head furiously. "No! Are you kidding me? It's a present from a friend. It's a popular fashion to wear rings on necklaces and I thought it was cute..."

"Was that friend Andou-san?" Byakuya deadpanned, not buying her story one bit.

She stared at him with a look of disbelief. "Ren-kun? You think I'm engaged to _Ren-kun_? How the heck did you get such a crazy idea into your head? For your information, the ring's from Kaien-dono. He got it for me when he was stationed in the World of the Living for an important recon mission. You can ask him yourself if you don't believe me."

Byakuya looked down, pondering his next move. He was glad that the ring wasn't from Ren, but that still didn't change the fact that she was still engaged, even if she didn't know of it. "But you're still engaged to Andou-san," he mumbled.

"Who told you that?" she asked, still confused. "This is the first time I've heard of being engaged to somebody."

"Andou-san told me himself," Byakuya admitted.

"Did he really?" Hisana asked, shocked. "He didn't say a single thing to me all summer," she commented with a troubled look. "Please believe me that I had no idea. I will speak to my father and Jiji-sama about this as soon as possible, when the time is right."

"I believe you," Byakuya answered, and guiltily added, "Please forgive me for not writing. When Andou-san told me you were his fiancée, I thought you had purposefully kept it from me. I was mad at you and I'm sorry."

"All is well then," she said, taking his hand into hers. "Byakuya-san, please let me in. I want to know you better and I can never do that when you're so closed off. I'm not asking for your entire life's story, but if you would just give me a little piece of your heart, I would be more than content. Please give me a chance."

"I want to, believe me, but things are _so_ complicated," he confessed to her. "If I had to share my darkest secrets with anyone, it would be you, but not today. I'm not ready to tell you such things."

"Okay," she nodded. "Okay, I'm okay with that," she said and laughed softly. "I'll wait for you."

"You might not be able to," Byakuya answered sadly, pointing out the huge issue that was still daunting over them. "You're still Andou-san's," he mumbled.

"Am not," she retorted dryly. "Nobody has a claim on me," Hisana explained.

"You're wrong," Byakuya answered. "I do. I have a claim on you."

She stared at him, lip curving upward, and thoughtfully answered, "I'd really like that."


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach**

Quick note: Yukianesa is Kisaragi Jin's sword from _BlazBlue_.

Thank you Sabathiel, ZALXERO, and CrossroadsofLife for reviewing!

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><p><em>Everything was in ruins. Trees smashed, small homes destroyed, ice shattered, and blood spilled everywhere. There was just so much blood. It stained the slowly melting sheet of ice that seemed to encompass the whole battlefield, tainting the purity of it, mixing in and binding together, as they both soaked into the soil. Even worse was the blood that stained Hisana's hands and uniform as she sat there, overwhelmed with trauma. <em>_How much of it was Byakuya's? __How much of it was Ren's? How much of it was her own?_

_A soft groan at her side drew her attention away from the bloodshed and ruin and back to reality and the weak man she was cradling in her lap. "Hang on just a little bit longer," she whispered softly, pushing back his hair as he started coughing up blood. There was just too much of it. "You're going to be okay; help is on the way," she said assuringly as she carefully turned his head so he wouldn't choke on his own blood._

_The light in his eyes seemed to fade as he closed them with a smile. "I love you, Hisana," he professed as he fumbled with her hand before finally securing a tight grip on it, as if it was the only thing keeping him chained to the world of the living._

_"I love you, too," she answered, knowing it was cruel to refuse a dying man. With her free hand, she reached down to wipe away the blood trickling at his lip, but grimaced when she ended up smearing it on his handsome features. He let out a soft sigh, relaxing in her arms as his grasp on her hand went slack. Disturbed, she shook him gently, trying to keep him awake. "Hey! Stay with me! Wake up."_

_When he made no response, she stifled a sob, hugging him to her protectively as she tried to wake him to no end. At this rate, he would die if help didn't reach them on time. "Please wake up. You can't die here. I'll never forgive you if you do," she pleaded, squeezing his hand tightly as she clung to him. "I need you. Please don't leave me."_

**12 Hours Earlier**

"When were you going to tell me about my pending engagement to Ren-kun?" Hisana boldly asked her father during breakfast that morning before she went off to class. She knew she should have chosen a better time, but she had been far too nervous to address him the previous night.

Sojun looked at his daughter in surprise. "Who did you find that out from?"

"That doesn't matter!" she answered, her tone coming out a bit more tart than attended. "The point is, I should have found out from _you_. When were you going to tell me, father?"

"I don't need to explain anything to you," her father reminded her. "I've already let you attend this school to become a Shinigami! The least you can do is honor my wishes and find a suitable husband to carry on the Kuchiki line. You must remember that you hold a duty to our family."

"And to make up for your mistakes?" Hisana murmured quietly, hitting a soft spot. Hisana was not in any ways stupid and she knew the disappointment Kuchiki Sojun posed as towards his own father. He had failed the Sixth Division as a lieutenant and failed the Kuchiki family by producing only one worthless daughter for their sole heir. His dear wife, and her beloved mother, left the world much too young, and in his grief, Sojun had refused to remarry. Hisana knew that he was trying to redeem himself through her and if she'd just listen to him for once, then maybe he could be in good standing with Ginrei again. His generation of the Kuchiki line had actually been quite a failure, especially after the riot Kuchiki Koga had caused.

Hisana flinched when she felt the stinging slap of her father's hand against her cheek. She bit her lip, refusing to cry, and instead, bravely looked him in the eye. "I'm not marrying Andou Ren," she said flatly.

"Why do you oppose me so, Hisana?" Sojun asked softly. "If your grandfather had asked you of this, would you oblige to his requests?"

"I don't want to marry Ren-kun. Please don't make me do this," she pleaded.

"Go to class, Hisana. We'll talk about it some more when you return," Sojun said firmly.

After composing herself, she nodded to his request and left without saying another word. Hisana would have preferred to have Ginrei there when they discussed the issue of her engagement again. Ren was a really nice person, and admittedly, she did grow fond of him, but they were just friends. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to see him in the same light that she saw Byakuya in.

In their Zanjutsu class, Mikado-sensei had announced that it was a team-bonding day and Natsumi seemed to be the only one to groan at this. She adored, Noriyuki, she really did, but sometimes, it was just so hard to work with him. His stubborn personality clashed with her own, and to make things worse, he even had the balls to stand up to her and correct her. Chiaki, usually submissive and loyal to Natsumi, started siding with Noriyuki more often, seeing that the Rukongai Ochibi actually had some good ideas every now and then.

Mikado-sensei explained that the teams were to go on a scavenger hunt and their only clues would be found through Quick Response codes, deciphered only by their phones, hidden throughout the Seireitei and the First Districts of Rukongai. It would be their first major assignment of the year, and they would have to use all the skills they had learned. He explained that it was a safe assignment and he and his team and spent the entire past week scoping out the area to make sure there were no dangers to his students, but _if_ something happened, they were to contact him immediately and request for backups. With that said, he presented the first QR code, different to each team, and instructed them to go forth and wished them luck, claiming that there would be a prize for the team who finished first.

Ren quickly scanned the code for the message, frowning as he read out, "_Hakutōmon_?"

"White Road?" Byakuya clarified, realizing they were being sent off to the Rukongai immediately. He tensed at this, wondering he would be able to squeeze in a minor search for his sister while they were there.

"Perhaps it's referring to the gatekeeper?" Hisana suggested. "I think Ikkanzaka Jidanbo guards that one. White Road is the west, yes?"

With a shrug, the teammates made their way to the West Gate where they were greeted heartily by Jidanbo. "Hello, students!" he said politely.

"Hello!" Hisana answered back. "We're part of Mikado-sensei's accelerated class and was wondering if you were part of his scavenger activity," she said with a friendly smile.

"Yes, I am!" he exclaimed cheerfully, pausing with a sheepish as he had forgotten what he had done with the code. "Er..."

Jidanbo laughed sheepishly as he began going through his set of tools, wondering just where on earth he had put the code Mikado-sensei had given to him. "Oh! There it is!" Hisana said, catching sight of it on one of his axes.

"Yes! Sensei put that there so I wouldn't lose it!" the gatekeeper exclaimed, holding out his axe to her so she could scan it with her phone. Her phone beeped red, claiming that there was an error with the message. She frowned, wondering what on earth was wrong with it. Ren pulled his phone out, scanning it and frowning when he received the same message.

"Let me," Byakuya said, trying his phone. It scanned it, deciphered a message and Byakuya frowned when the message he was given was suddenly overwritten with a new code. "Carp Slope? As in Mt. Koifushi...?"

"Is that really what it says?" Ren asked, peering over Byakuya's shoulder to read his phone. "I thought Mikado-sensei said that we weren't supposed to go past the First District. Try it again."

All three of them tried scanning the code again and both received Mt. Koifushi as a code. "I guess we go there then?" she asked hesitantly as they bid their farewells to the Gatekeeper and made their way through the First District. "At least it's the Third District," she added, pointing out that it wasn't that much farther from the First. "Perhaps Mikado-sensei made a mistake."

Ren frowned, feeling that something was really off, but held his tongue when Byakuya and Hisana started leading the way to the mountain. In order to do so, they had to pass a thick forest before they could actually start heading up the slope. It was after a while of seeing just trees and no slopes that Hisana finally mumbled, "I think we're lost," and held her phone up into the air to see if she could get a signal.

"Anything?" Ren asked, also holding his phone up.

"No," Byakuya answered, putting his phone away. "We're lost."

"We could follow the stars when it gets dark," Hisana suggested.

"Assuming we can _see_ them past the trees," Byakuya commented coolly, checking his phone to see if he could get any coordinates. "Let's just head in this direction. We know the sun sets west, so we'll eventually find the West Gate again if we go this way."

Ren shook his head, "I don't know. Something doesn't feel right." He paused, looking around, suddenly feeling like they weren't alone. "Why haven't we seen any of the other teams? We're all on the same scavenger hunt, aren't we? We're just on different parts of it so it's inevitable that we'll meet up with another team."

"Sensei?" Hisana spoke into her phone, trying to see if her dispatch could go through. She scowled, only getting static and decided that it would probably be best to follow Byakuya's plan of heading West instead of wandering around in circles.

Ren suddenly tensed as his sixth sense screamed at him that something was so wrong. "Stop! We're not—_Ugh!" _He suddenly let out a choked gasp, causing Hisana and Byakuya to turn around in shock. Claws were protruding from his stomach and the hollow behind him was ready to land the killing blow.

"Chire, Senbonzakura!" Byakuya shouted instantly while Hisana stared in shock, wondering how on earth a hollow had managed to approach them without being detected.

Turning its attention onto Byakuya, the hollow tossed Ren's body aside with a quick flick of its claws and faced its new opponent. Hisana was at his side in an instant, trying to stop the bleeding from his stomach as he gasped ragged breaths. "Ren-kun, hang on," she said, starting to use a healing kidō on him.

"Hisana," Ren groaned as she put pressure on his wound. His head fell back against her shoulder as he cried out in agony. "Don't let it touch you," he choked out, feeling all his energy getting sapped away.

"Shhh," Hisana pleaded softly, trying to get him to conserve his energy. She started to panic, realizing that her kidō was doing absolutely nothing. She wasn't stupid and knew that if a wound was too deep, it would be beyond her powers and abilities to heal it completely, but she knew she had enough energy to close the wound at least. Trying to remain calm, she tore off one of her sleeves to turn into a makeshift bandage as she wondered just why her kidō was being _repelled_.

"Byakuya-san, it's not working," she said urgently as she put pressure on Ren's wound again. He writhed beneath her, and bit his lip to suppress another cry of pain.

Byakuya, who was still alright, turned his attention to his teammates, reading Hisana's need to escape. "Bakudo 21: Sekienton!" Byakuya hissed, slamming his spiritual energy into the ground and exploding it into a red smokescreen. He flash stepped to Hisana and Ren, immediately lifting his injured teammate onto his back, grimacing as he felt Ren's blood soak through his uniform. "We have to run, now!"

Hisana nodded, ready to follow Byakuya, but was suddenly cut off by the appearance of a second hollow. "Byakuya! Look out!" she shouted, pushing Byakuya out of the way before the hollow could land a blow on him. In doing so, its claws scraped across her back, opening up a large wound.

"Hisana?" Byakuya gasped, quickly (and carefully) setting Ren down before drawing out his zanpakutō.

"I'm okay," Hisana answered, knowing that the wound wasn't deep at all. Despite its shallowness, she could still feel a poison spreading throughout her body through her bloodstream, slowly paralyzing her body as she suddenly realized what Ren was trying to warn her about.

Ren, barely conscious, struggled to keep his eyes open as he drew out his zanpakutō. "We can't escape. They'll hunt us down by the scent of our blood. We'd never outrun them." He struggled to his feet, and then tipped over in a matter of seconds, feeling drained and exhausted."Call it in," he said urgently, reminding them of their phones.

She reached for her phone, stopping with a gasp when she realized her hands were completely soaked with Ren's blood. Shaking off the feeling, she reached for her phone again, urgently saying, "Sensei! This is an emergency request for immediate backup! This is second-year Kuchiki Hisana reporting! We have a man down." When the only response she got back was static, she stifled a sob and stuffed her phone away, and drew out her zanpakutō, knowing that Ren was right. There was no chance of escaping. They were going to die here if they didn't fight back.

"Byakuya-san, whatever happens, don't let the hollow scratch you. It has some kind of poison that saps away at your energy," she answered, trying to catch her breath. "

"Show yourself," Byakuya hissed, looking around for the hollow. A blur of dark colors shot at him, ready to claw his body open and eat him from the inside out. "Chire, Senbonzakura!"he shouted, releasing his sword once more and held up a defensive stance. Hisana copied his motions, moving to go back to back with him so they had a 360° vantage point.

"Byakuya-san, I'm afraid," Hisana confessed with a worried look. "These are no ordinary hollows. How can it be that none of us were able to sense it? How are they able to block off our kidō?"

"We're going to make it through this," Byakuya answered, keeping an eye on Ren. A flicker of movement caught his eye and he directed Senbonzakura at it, while shouting, "Hadō 33: Sōkatsui!" A burst of blue lightning exploded from the palm of his hands and from the hollow's ear-piercing shriek, he knew he landed a direct hit. The hollow emerged from the woods, covered in blood and burns. Hisana and Byakuya watched in horror as the screaming hollow threw itself not at them, but onto the other hollow and devoured it, taking in its powers and healing itself.

It let out a guttural, inhuman sound, and lunged for Byakuya. Senbonzakura automatically went to shield him, but to his horror, the hollow's claws swiped the shards away as it they really were flimsy flower petals. Byakuya let out a cry of agony as the hollow's claws caught his arm, ripping away at his skin as they dragged down, shattering his bones beneath its strength. Byakuya swapped Senbonzakura to his other hand, about to strike back, but gasped in horror as his blade broke against the hollow's claws.

"Byakuya!" Hisana shrieked, grabbing him by the shoulders to inspect his arm. It was broken, and she grimaced when she saw the white of his bones piercing out from his flesh. Hisana made the mistake of letting down her guard to assure her teammate's safety and the hollow chose that moment to strike again.

"Kirigakure Ryuu: Kōmaken Kurikara!" Ren shouted, forcing himself and his zanpakutō between his teammates and the hollow, wincing in pain as the bleeding had yet to stop. He was dizzy and lightheaded from the blood loss and was hardly able to stand on two feet, let alone release his zanpakutō. Upon realizing this, Hisana burst into tears, knowing that Byakuya and Ren were still trying to protect her despite the fact they had been badly injured. Forcing himself to concentrate whatever energy he had left, Ren cut through the air, firing off his energy as a projectile at the hollow. He smiled weakly, hearing the hollow shriek, confirming that he had nicked it successfully. Unable to keep standing, he planted his zanpakutō into the ground in front of it, and winced as he tried to hold himself up. "Don't cry, Hisana, we're going to make it through this," he said, smiling through his pain.

"I'm so useless! Why?" Hisana sobbed, taking up her katana and fended off the next attack from the hollow. With a nameless zanpakutō, she knew she was next to useless and the hollow snapped her blade in half with a mere swipe of its claws. "Ren-kun, stop!" she pleaded, when he made a move to try and protect her once more. Byakuya, whose own blade had been shattered and his good arm broken, tried to use an offensive kidō on the hollow, but the poison had sapped away much of his energy and the hollow deflected the spell as if it were nothing. It cackled maniacally as it threw Byakuya aside, focusing on Hisana and Ren.

Hisana screamed as it swung its claws, ready to kill Ren, and time suddenly slowed down in front of her eyes. The hollow stopped, its claws several feet away from her and Ren. Ren himself was frozen in place, in mid position as he prepared to swing Kurikara. Byakuya was also frozen in place, in the middle of a last-ditch effort at casting a kidō spell to try and save his teammates. Hisana stood there, the only one whose time still continued.

"Kuchiki Hisana, have you always amounted to so little?" a woman asked, stepping out from the broken trees and ruins. Hisana stared at her in surprise, awestruck by her beauty, and wondered what had just happened. She was dressed in a short white kimono with a blue obi that matched her icy blue hair and eyes. Hisana noted that the woman was unusually clean despite the ruins around her, and nothing seemed to mar the perfection she was. Upon Hisana's lack of response, she angrily snapped, "Well? Answer me!"

"No?" Hisana said, startled by the woman's angered accusation as she looked her in the eyes. She could see that the woman's long eyelashes seemed to have been encrusted with frost. "Who are you?" she asked curiously.

"My name is—"

Hisana frowned, missing it completely. Seeing the look on her face, the woman let out an agitated growl. "You are worthless. It is no surprise that you have amounted to so little."

"What are you saying?" Hisana asked, hurt by her words. "I am worth something."

"What does it matter if you don't even believe that?" the woman replied, and Hisana suddenly realized who she was.

"Lend me your power, please, I must save my friends," Hisana begged.

"You're not deserving of my powers," she said flatly, refusing her.

"Please! I cannot let them die on my behalf!"

"Of course not. You're worthless. It'd be such a waste on their part," the woman laughed as she inspected her nails and then twirled a lock of her wavy hair around a finger.

"I'm not worthless!" Hisana screamed at her, so sick of hearing those words. She had practically grown up hearing that phrase from her father so many times after her mother died. Ginrei said it just by looking at her. The other students at the Academy looked down at her for her lack of skills. "I'm not a waste and I will make a difference, now lend me your power, please!"

"Then prove it to me," her zanpakutō answered with a smile, now that she had elicited some emotion from her master.

"How?" Hisana asked, knowing that she still could not hear her name.

"Kill the monstrosity that dares to destroy everything you hold dear," her zanpakutō ordered.

"I can't," Hisana answered. "I'm _scared_."

Suddenly, the woman embraced Hisana tightly, stroking her hair comfortingly. "Kuchiki Hisana, it's alright to be afraid, but do not let your fear cloud your judgment. Put your faith in me, call my name and save your comrades before it's too late."

"But, I—" she protested and her zanpakutō shushed her by pressing a finger to her lips.

"Do not let your fear control you. Trust in me, believe in me, and listen with your heart. My name is—"

"Yukianesa," Hisana breathed, as time reverted back into motion and the hollow was lunging for her and Ren again. "Mucro Algesco, Yukianesa!" she shouted with confidence as she lunged at the hollow with the broken katana. Ice reformed the blade as her spiritual pressure flared and cleanly sliced away at the hollow's arm.

"Tell me what to do," Hisana whispered, putting all of her faith into her zanpakutō as she gripped Yukianesa's hilt tightly. The air around her grew colder and the soft voice of her other half brushed against her like a chilled breeze, commanding her in a whisper. "_Touga Hyoujin_!" she repeated, swinging the blade down to the ground as the hollow tried to slash at her once more. The moment Yukianesa slammed into the ground, an icy shockwave like an earthquake erupted, slamming into the hollow and throwing it into the air.

"_Hiyoku Getsumei_!" she shouted, following every one of Yukianesa's commands and fired an ice arrow from her blade to air combo the hollow, freezing it as she did so. Yukianesa's ice eroded away the hollow's life as her ice grew at an alarming rate, surrounding it until it was fully encased. With a flick of her wrist, she stabbed the ice blade into the ground, creating another icy shockwave that shattered everything encased in her ice.

Once the hollow disintegrated, Hisana fell to her knees, weakened from using her shikai as well as the hollow's poison in her system. Unable to provide the energy to fuel her any longer, Yukianesa's ice blade cracked and shattered, reverting back to the previously broken katana.

Seeing that the hollow was finally dead for good, Ren smiled, and fell over, no longer needing to stay conscious. His pillar, Kōmaken Kurikara, reverted back into her sealed form as Hisana dragged herself to him and cradled his head on her lap. "Hisana," Ren murmured, eyes opening as he took in the lovely sight before him. Her hair was messy and plastered to her face from the rain that just started falling and her eyes were red from sobbing. Her face was swollen from the cut she had received, and her entire uniform was soiled with dirt and blood. Hisana looked horrible, but to Ren, she was the most beautiful he had ever seen her because she was _alive_. "You were amazing," he said weakly, blood trickling from an open cut on his lip. "I can't feel my legs anymore..."

Panicked by this admission, Hisana quickly struggled to her feet to help him only to realize she was too weak to even stand. "I can't get up," she sobbed to Byakuya who was leaning against one of the trees to hold himself up. His arm, torn to shreds, fell limply at his side. "Please take Ren-kun back."

"I can't carry him," Byakuya answered, looking at the dying man with the most guilty look she had ever seen.

"Then leave us behind and go on ahead," she answered seriously. "You have to find help. Ren-kun won't make it if I try and help you carry him."

Byakuya nodded, disappearing with a shun-po, and Hisana went back to cradling Ren. As she aimlessly stroked her fingers through his hair, she surveyed the damage left behind, the damaged trees of the forest, the abandoned homes from the Rukongai, the lingering remnants of Yukianesa's ice, and all the blood from Ren, Byakuya and herself. Her breath caught in her throat at the realization of how much blood had been shed. She felt like she had sat there for ages, comforting Ren who suddenly broken into a cold sweat, and wondered if that was because of Yukianesa.

Byakuya returned, his arm still twisted and broken at his side. The white of his bone still poked out from his skin and Hisana turned away, unable to look at it any longer. "They're coming," he said quietly.

Hisana let out a sigh of relief, and gently nudged Ren. "Do you hear that? Help is on the way. Just hang on a little bit longer," she murmured softly, still stroking his hair.

Ren suddenly seized a hold of her hand in his bloody one, holding onto her tightly as if she was the only thing keeping him in the world of the living. The large gash in his waist started bleeding freely again and Hisana tried to stop it by applying pressure, but let up the second he writhed beneath her in pain and suppressed a cry. "I love you, Hisana," he murmured weakly, starting to slip back into unconsciousness.

Byakuya tensed upon hearing his confession and stared at Hisana, waiting for her to answer. Realizing this, she bit her lip and gave him the most apologetic look as she didn't have the heart to refuse a dying man. "I love you, too," she answered, clutching his hand tightly. "Hang on, Ren-kun. You're going to be okay." Ren's grip on her hand went slack and his head tipped back as he succumbed back into the darkness. "Ren!" Hisana cried out, shaking him gently. _"_Stay with me! You can't die just yet! Don't leave me! Natsumi needs you. _I_ need you..."

Lieutenant Kotetsu and Mikado-sensei finally appeared with others of the Fourth Division to save the missing team. "Thank you," Hisana whispered, as Kotetsu pulled Ren's unconscious form away from her and brought him back to the Seireitei. Glancing back to Byakuya, she looked at his arm and weakly told him that he should fix his arm before finally throwing up at the sight of it and all the bloodshed that had been around her.

Mikado-sensei was at her side, helping her to her feet with a concerned look. "What on earth happened?" he asked, horrified by the bloodstained ice that covered the entire battlefield. "What were you even doing out here?"

"Your QR code sent us here," she answered, clinging to her Sensei in pain. "It said Carp Slope, Mt. Koifushi."

"I told you not to go past the First District! Why didn't you call for backup?"

She stared at him with wide eyes, almost at tears. "Sensei, I called for backup the moment we got lost. You never responded! Nobody responded to _any_ of my pleas for help."

Mikado-sensei's eyes went wide at the realization that someone had tampered with his activity, and Hisana's team had to pay for his mistake. "I'm so sorry," he whispered, weighed down immensely with guilt. If Andou Ren died, he knew he would never forgive himself for being so careless.

At the hospital, all three members of the butterfly squad were prepped for surgery and taken into an O.R. Ren was the first to go under, having taken the most severe wounds of them all. Hisana went under next because of her minor scratches and that Byakuya had refused out right until Noriyuki had arrived to speak to him.

"If I don't make it, promise me you will find _her_," Byakuya said in low voice as he forced his shredded hand to seize the front of Noriyuki's uniform. He had to leave his heart somewhere, and he would give it Noriyuki. There was nobody else he would entrust Rukia to, besides him.

"You got it, I promise," Noriyuki answered, pulling Byakuya's fingers off of his shirt. "I'll find her and treat her as if she were my own sister," he promised as Byakuya finally allowed the doctors to administer the anesthesia and put him under to fix the lacerations he had sustained.

Natsumi, finally arriving, cried loudly and threw herself into Noriyuki's arms, no longer caring what anybody thought of her. He shushed her softly, stroking her hair as he embraced her tightly as he tried to make promises that everybody would be fine, even Ren, her only brother.

Hisana was the first to come out with stitches on her back and the poison extracted out of her system. She smiled weakly to Natsumi and Noriyuki when she awoke, reaching for her friend's hand and apologized for not taking better care of Ren. Natsumi forced a smile through her tears, grasped Hisana's hand and explained that it was only thanks to her that they all survived. Byakuya was the next out of the O.R. and remained asleep for the rest of the night, not even waking once. He was placed in the same room as Hisana and she forced herself to sit up as Noriyuki and Natsumi fussed over him, making sure he was alright. His arm had been fixed with skin grafts and was wrapped in a cast. While Byakuya slept, Hisana stayed up all night with Natsumi and Noriyuki, waiting on the news of Andou Ren's condition...

Outside the recovery rooms, Mikado-sensei stood with the very upset Kuchiki Ginrei and Sojun as well as a furious Andou Kazuhiro. "How could this have happened?" Kazuhiro demanded angrily.

"My apologies," Mikado answered, disturbed by what had happened to his precious students. "They weren't supposed to have gone that far in the first place."

"Did you not tell them to stay on the given path and not stray?" Ginrei asked.

"No, that was the problem. Kuchiki claimed that the scavenger hunt told them to go to Mt. Koifushi," Mikado explained with a bothered look.

"What are you saying? That somebody _tampered_ with your codes?" Sojun clarified, asking the question that everybody wanted the answer to.

"I'm afraid so," Mikado answered. "They walked straight into a trap."

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Ichimaru Gin approached his captain's office with a hesitant knock. "Gin," Aizen said fondly, expecting a progress report.

"Mikado's elite class killed your latest," the silver-haired lieutenant answered, nearly flinching as Aizen angrily slammed his fist down onto his desk.

"That's alright; there are many others," he said, looking to his lieutenant. "Who killed it?"

"That Kuchiki girl," Gin answered. "I have the reports here, sir."

"Thank you, Gin," Aizen murmured, dismissing him as he looked over the reports, noting just which adjustments needed to be made on his future experiments.


	11. Side Story: Without a Worry

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach.**

I've decided to be cruel (and to hopefully spite Sabathiel) and delay the outcomes of last chapter and squeeze in this completely unrelated side story for Nori and Natsumi. This is somewhat based on _Strobe Edge_, ch. 38! I've got some lines from the manga tossed here and there. Please take this lightly as it is supposed to be humorous, romantic comedy.

Thank you ZALXERO, Sabathiel, CrossroadsofLife, cotton, Girls In White Dresses and Ayla-tan for reviewing!

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><p>Contrary to what everybody believed, Matsuda Noriyuki did not meet Andou Natsumi for the first time in their Zanjutsu class when pure luck decided to assign them onto the same teams. No, they had met before then; in fact it was before the first day of class when he had first arrived at <em>Shinô Reijutsuin<em> that his eyes met with hers. She was in line in front of Byakuya at registration, and he noted the way she brushed back her long red hair, tucking it behind her ear, as she signed some paperwork. Noriyuki decided right there and then that red was a very lovely color.

On their first day of class, when Byakuya had decided to sleep in, Noriyuki went ahead to explore the campus and check out the cafeteria. In his delight, he had found a drink machine and quickly fed it the coins in his pocket. He had been eyeing the ice coffee, but in his hurry, he misread the label and ended getting a can of melon milk.

"Oh, people actually drink that?" the person behind him in line commented, looking at the drink with a frown. "I heard it was the least favorite of all the drinks. Doesn't it make you sick?"

"Haha, well I like it," Noriyuki answered, not wanting to look stupid by telling him it had been a mistake. Most likely, that student probably would have thought he was lying to cover it up.

"Really?" he asked incredulously, looking at the drink selections again. "Aren't you worried about how long that's been in the machine?"

Noriyuki shrugged, opened the can and forced himself to choke down the melon milk. "Delicious," he said, trying to keep a straight face.

"Wow, it's like you have no worries in the world. That must be nice," the student said before buying his drink and then heading off.

"Haha, that's what Byakuya says," Noriyuki mumbled to himself.

"There's no way a person without problems could exist..." someone else muttered, and Noriyuki's breath caught in his throat when he realized it was the pretty redhead he had seen the day before. She had said it so softly, most likely to herself without the intention for anyone to hear. He looked at her, somewhat awed by her comment, but smiled that carefree smile all the same. Realizing that he had heard her, she only blushed and walked off with her head high. Inwardly grinning, Noriyuki cheerily returned to his room to wake Byakuya up. His day had been made, and he knew that nothing could make it go wrong. Needless to say, he was elated to find out that Andou Natsumi had been assigned to his Zanjutsu squad.

Noriyuki liked to believe that he wasn't a stalker at all, but rather that he was _attentive_. Of course he paid attention to his beloved Natsumi-chan to try and find out what she liked and disliked so could get to know her a little better and have a chance of winning her heart. Her favorite color was green and she liked red bean mochi bunnies that she always had for dessert during lunch. She also liked silk ribbons which she used to tie back her long red hair into two pigtails that framed her pretty face. Noriyuki had already learned the hard way that he wasn't supposed to touch her hair after getting slapped in the face for gently tugging on one of them.

However, the most important thing he noticed from being attentive was that Natsumi possessed an unrequited love for their third teammate, Uehara Chiaki, and Noriyuki knew that he couldn't compare. He watched one day as Chiaki, bored, gently poked Natsumi in the cheek and when she turned to him with a confused look, he pulled on the ribbon. Her hair tumbled down in a cascade of red and she made a face, clearly annoyed by his actions. After rebuking him, Chiaki helped her tie it back up and Nori watched, mesmerized and wished that he could be Chiaki and to have his fingers in those soft strands.

One day, after Zanjutsu class, Noriyuki, on his way back to his dorm, paused when he saw Natsumi trying to hit Ren. She was clearly upset, for reasons unknown, and Ren didn't seem to be bothered one bit. Unsure why, Noriyuki ducked behind one of the buildings, listening in to what could have possibly made her so mad. "Ren! This is your fault!" Natsumi shouted at her brother who was now currently keeled over and laughing at her. "Don't you laugh at me!"

"Sorry!" he answered, finally composing himself. He bent down, picking something off the ground and handed it to her. "It's broken."

"I can see that," she growled, snatching the broken cell phone charm out of his hand. The pink butterfly was missing a wing and an antenna. "Why didn't you catch it?" she snapped angrily.

"Huh? Why are you even throwing your phone at my face in the first place?" Ren snapped back, wondering how in the world she could find fault in him.

"You said that I wasn't a proper lady in front of Chiaki-kun and that he could do better than me!" she shouted, bewildered. "Why would you even do that?"

"You're _still_ mad about that?" Ren asked with disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me; it was just a joke. I'll make it up to you, okay? I'll buy you another butterfly charm. Now will you forgive me and drop it?"

"You think you can just _buy_ another one? That was a gift from Chiaki-kun!" she hissed. "He got it for me when he went to South Korea with his family! I'll forgive you if you go to South Korea and get another one!"

"You're so difficult," Ren sighed. "I take it you wouldn't forgive me if I tried to glue it back together?"

"You're such a jerk," she said with a pout, storming off. She stopped for a second, turning on her heel, and flung the broken butterfly at Ren's face. "I hate you!"

Ren managed to catch the pieces this time, fumbling with it for a second before sighing again. Knowing Natsumi, she'd probably be giving him the silent treatment for the rest of the week. If he was lucky, maybe it'd be a month. He glanced to the broken pieces in his hand and dropped them into a nearby trashcan before following Natsumi, calling for her to come back and that he was sorry.

When they were both gone, Noriyuki hesitantly poked out from his hiding place and scurried over to the trash can to retrieve the broken pieces of the cell phone charm. If he could, he definitely would have gone to South Korea to go find another one like it for Natsumi, but seeing as he had no idea where South Korea was in the first place, or where he would even get the money to fund such a trip, he figured maybe he could at least dive into his life savings and buy some glue. He could return it to her anonymously, and maybe she'd accept the sentiment. Noriyuki bought glue from the supplies store and stayed up all night fixing the butterfly. It practically looked as good as new, and one wouldn't even notice the hairline crack of the once broken wing unless he or she inspected it closely. When nobody was looking, he carefully slipped it into Natsumi's bag.

Unfortunately for him (and Ren), when Natsumi found it, she immediately assumed it was her brother just being a jerk again. This time, she picked up her entire bag (that had been filled with textbooks from her previous Studies class) and flung the entire thing at his head, nailing him successfully. He pitched forward into the floor, smashing his face.

"What the hell?" he shouted at her, grabbing his nose which started to bleed when he made contact with the floor. "Are you insane?"

"Why do you _always_ try to provoke me?" she shouted as she picked up her bag, and tried to bludgeon him with it.

"What did I do now?" Ren demanded, grabbing onto the bag and holding onto it with his entire weight so she couldn't hit him anymore.

"The butterfly!" she shouted. "I found it! I can't believe you would actually glue it together! I told you that it's irreplaceable, now let go!" she snapped, trying to wrestle him for her bag.

"So you can hit me with it again? Not likely!" he growled, refusing to let go.

Chiaki, who had been watching with such an amused expression, finally decided to step in. He pulled the cell phone charm from Natsumi's hand, frowning with disbelief as he said, "You're making a big deal about a stupid trinket?"

Natsumi immediately let go of her bag, sending Ren propelling back from the sudden lack of an opposing force, very similarly to the losing team of Mikado-sensei's tug-of-war challenge. "Chiaki-kun, this is the one that _you_ gave me!"

"Did I?" he asked, scratching at his head as he tried to remember. "You sure I gave this to you? It's kind of tacky. Maybe Ren-san did you a favor by breaking it..."

She stared at him in shock with wide eyes that were starting to get glassy. "Natsumi?" Ren asked, seeing that she was about to start crying.

"Forget it! I don't know what came over me! Sorry, Ren!" She snatched the charm out of Chiaki's hands and ran off, leaving her bag behind. She was a good ways out from the building by the time she stopped, keeling over as she tried to stave off her tears and catch her breath. She cried anyways, and looked at the butterfly charm in her hand before throwing it to the ground in disgust. "Stupid Chiaki," she muttered over and over again as she stomped on the butterfly.

Unbeknownst to any of them, Noriyuki had witnessed the entire thing, and even guiltily followed her out. He wasn't sure who he felt bad for, Ren who had got caught in the crossfire and faced his sister's wrath, or Natsumi who had just had her heart broken when Chiaki unwittingly rejected her. Either way, Noriyuki wouldn't be able to fix things between Ren and his sister, but he had now found an opening to winning Natsumi's heart.

"Go out with me," Noriyuki said forwardly with a grin one day after Zanjutsu class. He had stopped her before she left with Ren, boldly catching her by the arm and pulling her back.

"Are you stupid?" Natsumi asked, rejecting him flat-out as she tugged her arm out of his grasp. Seeing that Ren was waiting on her with a confused look, she quickly waved him off and waited until everybody left and she and Noriyuki were the only ones left in the classroom. "You're not my type," she said after a silence.

"I like you," he replied, undeterred by her rejection.

"You're short," she answered, pointing out the height difference between them. "Don't be a brat."

"You should give me a chance," he said cheekily as he winked at her.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Natsumi sighed. "My type is super hot, tall, older than me and rich. You possess _none_ of these traits, do you, Matsuda-kun?"

"You should call me 'Nori,' Natsumi-chan!" he corrected. "Here, this is for you," he said, giving her a gachapon keychain that he had bought from the convenience store with some spare change. He grabbed her hand and closed her fingers around it before she could even reject his present. "Your phone seemed a little lonely. I'll get you another one when you're done with it," he said and scurried off before she could say anything or try to return it.

"Done with it...?" Natsumi asked, and looked down into the palm of her hand. "Where do you even find things like this?" she asked rhetorically as she stared at a pink eraser cube attached to a cell phone loop.

"You're an idiot..." Byakuya remarked, witnessing the whole thing. "If you want a girlfriend so badly, you should set your sights a little lower."

"Ha, you think so?" Noriyuki asked, undeterred. In his opinion, that actually went quite well.

"I know you consider her to be cute, but no matter how pretty she is, don't you think she's a bit cold?" Byakuya inquired.

"I know how to handle icy people. I deal with you, don't I?" he answered without missing a beat. "And I think she's tsundere. You just don't know her that well."

Byakuya shook his head, knowing that his warnings were falling on deaf ears. He figured that this would end rather badly, and when it all went downhill, he'd be there for his best friend at least. Noriyuki, on the other hand, had no idea what Byakuya was trying to bring up. When he saw Natsumi crossing campus to get to her next class the next day, Noriyuki hummed a pleased tone and concluded that Byakuya's eyesight must have been bad for him to think that Natsumi-chan was cold. After all, the pink cube eraser was dangling off her phone as she pleasantly made conversation with whoever was on the other end.

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><p>"Natsumi-chan, this if for you!" Noriyuki exclaimed as he presented her with a new cell phone charm one day. "I noticed that your phone was lonely again. You probably used up the eraser, huh?"<p>

"Huh?" Natsumi gasped, looking at the new odd keychain he had probably won from a gachapon machine again. Noriyuki pressed it into her hand, and she stared at the adorably plastic mochi rabbit before softly mumbling, "Thank you."

"I thought you'd like this one better since I always see you eating them," Noriyuki commented, and Natsumi flushed, realizing that he really was paying attention to her.

Unwilling to let him know that he actually made an impact this time, she turned away with a small huff. "You sound like a stalker."

"Do I?" he asked, unfazed by her insult and tsundere personality. He knew it was the only defense mechanism she had, and he wouldn't let it get to him.

"What are you doing anyways?" she asked, uncomfortable by the attention she was getting from him.

"Didn't I tell you, already? I'm coming at you, fair and square."

"Ha," she laughed. "I'm not that easy."

"That's okay," Noriyuki replied. "That just makes it easier to convey how serious I am."

Crimson burned into her cheeks and she turned away from him. "Why do you say these things?" she asked self-consciously, unable to believe the sincerity of his words. "Didn't I already tell you that you had no chance with me? You're not my type!"

"If you've never dated anybody but your type before, then you should give it a try with me," Noriyuki answered wistfully. "I know that I'm short and my face is nothing special. I'll never be anyone but myself so I'll do my best. For all that I lack, I'll make up for it by forever trying my best! Give me a chance, and I'll surpass your type."

"You... You don't know when to give up, do you?" she asked, with a frown. "Just how many times do I have to reject you for you to leave me alone?"

"As long as you don't have a boyfriend, then I'm allowed to come at you," he answered firmly. "I won't give up until then, and I know that you're not going to get one."

"Huh? And why is that?" she snapped.

"Because," Noriyuki grinned, "Each time we talk, you fall for me just a little more. You're too kind to get rid of me for good."

"You're annoying," she said, looking away from him. She paused, looking at her feet with a bothered look. "Tomorrow, come home with me after Zanjutsu class. I'll tutor you."

Noriyuki grinned brightly at this, knowing that he was making progress. "Alright then, it's date."

"It's _not_ a date!" Natsumi snapped, but it had already fallen on deaf ears as Noriyuki already took off, no doubt telling everybody about his date with her.

The next day, he had gone home with her as planned, with a goofy look on his face. Upon seeing that expression, she rolled her eyes and scoffed, "This isn't a date."

He blinked at her, confused. Of all the times he spent chasing her, never had Natsumi been the one to initiate contact. For her to go as far as to ask him out on date, well, that was just absurd! "So how come you're helping me again?"

"Kuchiki-chan is working so hard to help you out with your Kidō classes! I'm doing this for her! Not you," she explained with a huff. "She wants us all to be in the same class next year, so I'll help her, even if that means spending time with you."

"Are you sure it's not because Natsumi-chan wants me to be in the same class as her next year?" Noriyuki asked hopefully.

"Pft! As if!" she answered, shaking her head. "You suck at Kidō, and I'm actually rather good at it, so I'll help you just this once!"

"I think it'll take more than just once to help me improve," he answered sheepishly. "I would just really like for my spells to stop blowing up in my face."

"See, the problem is, you're thinking too big," she explained. "You're trying to conjure up a spell with such massive power and magic attack, that you can't even control it. Try thinking a little bit smaller."

"So you're saying size doesn't matter to you?" he asked with a cheeky grin.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm—wait, no! Ew, you perv!"

"For the record, not all of me is 'short,'" Noriyuki grinned.

"You're disgusting," Natsumi said, face turning scarlet as she looked away from him. "Whatever! Just stop trying to put so much power in your kidō!" However, when Noriyuki tried, she stopped him before he could ignite it, shaking her head. "Still too big, look," she said, snapping her fingers in front of his face, and lighting a small flame at her fingertips. "See how I can still retain control over it?" she pointed out as she fueled it with her spiritual energy, making the flame grow larger. "You have to keep control over your powers the entire time, otherwise it'll combust."

Noriyuki hadn't even been paying attention to what she was saying. The only thing on his mind was how pretty Natsumi looked at that moment with her face illuminated by the fire dancing on her fingers. The glow of the fire glinted off her red hair, the first thing he had noticed about her. and the fire's light got caught in her already pretty green eyes, bringing them to life and making them seem inhumanly gorgeous. Unable to help himself, Noriyuki pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of her.

"What are you doing?" she gasped, blushing and the fire faded from her fingertips. "Did you just take a picture of me?"

"Sorry, couldn't help it," he answered honestly. "You were so pretty I just had to have that moment forever."

"Let me see it!" she said, reaching for his phone, but he pulled back. This would be his to keep forever. "Nori! Hand it over!"

"I'll show you when I pass my Kidō class," he promised, trying to light a flame on his fingertips like she had.

"Here, let me," Natsumi said, rubbing her fingers together and lighting a small spark. Keeping it small, she passed it off to Noriyuki's hand for him to control. He stared at the light on his fingertips, concentrating to keep it small and under his control. Natsumi stared at him, suddenly realizing what he had seen when she had fire dancing on her fingertips. And he was right; the sight was inhumanly gorgeous.

He smiled, noticing that she was staring at him the same way he had her just a few minutes ago, and knew that little by little, he was making her fall for him. He leaned in, taking the initiative to be brave and make the first move. Natsumi looked at him with a small frown, wondering just what on earth he was doing, and why she had an achy feeling in her heart. Nevertheless, she still leaned into him, until something the smell of something _burning_ caught her attention.

"Kyaa!" she screamed, swatting at her long hair that Noriyuki had unwittingly set on fire. "What have you done?"

In his panic, Noriyuki put out the fire on his hand and grabbed the tea kettle, emptying it on Natsumi's head. "It doesn't look that bad..." he stammered, seeing her drenched form and the several inches that had been clearly singed off.

"Leave," Natsumi demanded through gritted teeth as Ren came to see what was wrong.

He took one look at Natsumi's lopsided hair, and suppressed a laugh. He failed to do so and it came out as a snort. Seeing the glare she had on her face, Ren quickly excused himself, deciding that he would be kind and escort Noriyuki out. "I'm really sorry!" Noriyuki called out as she stormed off to her room.

"Don't worry about it. She'll get over it," Ren said assuringly.

The next day, Natsumi's long red hair had been cut to a shoulder length, having hacked off at least five inches to fix the damage Noriyuki had caused. Despite it all, Noriyuki thought she still looked very pretty, and if ever wanted to see her with long hair again, then he could always just look at the picture he had saved on his phone.

When finals started to approach, Natsumi, determined to do well, invited both Noriyuki and Chiaki over to study. As luck would have it, Chiaki had come down with the flu and couldn't attend, leaving Natsumi alone with Noriyuki. "It's not a date," she said flatly before he could even open his mouth.

"I wasn't going to say that at all," he answered cheekily. "Could it be that you think wanted this to be a date?"

"No way!" she answered, blushing. "I just study better with a friend. Anyways, stay put, and don't go through my things. I'm going to change out of my uniform and get snacks."

Noriyuki nodded and after she left, he looked around her room. There were several pictures of her and Ren together, another one of her and Hisana, and to his surprise, a picture of her and Chiaki. He picked up, surveying it carefully and realized with an awful feeling in his chest that it had been recent judging by her hair length in the picture.

"I'm back... What are you doing?" Natsumi gasped, nearly dropping the tray of snacks. She slammed it down onto her bed and snatched the picture out of his hand. "It's nothing," she said defensively, going to put it away.

"It's okay, you don't need to explain yourself," Noriyuki said wryly. "You've always liked Uehara-san. Anyways, while you were gone, Byakuya called and he's in trouble so I need to leave," he lied. He quickly slung his bag over his shoulder and went to move past her.

"Don't," Natsumi pleaded, suddenly hugging from behind and causing him to tense and freeze in place. "Don't lie to me."

"Then don't lie to me either," he responded. His voice came out more hollow and colder than he had intended it to.

"When have I ever lied to you?" she asked, grabbing him by the shoulder and turning him so they were face to face. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw that his eyes were glassed over as if he was about to cry. "There's nothing between Chiaki-kun and me. We've been friends for a long time. That's all that's between us. I swear it, Nori-chan."

"It's alright, really," he said, looking away from her and trying to leave once again. "You don't need to make excuses for me. I understand, I really do."

"You don't understand anything!" Natsumi shouted at him, grabbing his arm to pull him back. "You're supposed to believe me when I tell you that I feel _nothing_ for Uehara!" Taking hold of his hand, she pressed it over her chest and held it there. "Feel my heartbeat, Nori-chan, it's racing. You make my heart race. I'm in love with _you_, Noriyuki."

Noriyuki stared at her, frozen as if he couldn't believe the words he was hearing. "Really...?" he stammered, shocked. Her heart was beating wildly beneath his fingertips and she had a faint blush dusting her cheeks. "But what about Uehara-san?"

Natsumi let out an agitated growl at the mention of Chiaki and grabbed the photo of them. "He means nothing to me," she said and promptly tore the photograph in half, letting the flimsy pieces flutter to the floor helplessly. "Do you need anymore proof?"

"Yes, please," Noriyuki replied, trying to suppress the grin that was about to break out.

"Go to my jewelry box," she said, pointing over to her vanity.

Confused, he did as he was told and sharply inhaled when he realized what she had wanted him to see. "I thought you threw this away," Noriyuki commented, seeing something familiar dangling off her necklace rack. He hesitantly poked the eraser cube cell phone charm and looked at her.

"I didn't want it to get smaller," Natsumi admitted with a blush.

"I would have given you another one," he answered sincerely. "I would have given you as many as you wanted."

"But this is the one that matters the most," she replied, pulling the charm off her necklace rack and examining it fondly. She didn't dare use it, fearing that it would disappear. "After all, this is the _first_ present you've ever given me."

"One day, I'll give you more than just erasers and cell phone charms. I'll give you the world," he confessed.

"I believe you, but I don't need the world. I just need you," she responded, so touched by his sentiments. Never had anyone cared for her or paid attention to her like he had. Never before had anyone given it their all just for a moment of her affections. Never had anyone tore down her barriers and seen that she was more than just a spoiled girl. She carefully slipped the cell phone charm back onto her necklace rack and looked at him. "Why cell phone charms?" she asked curiously. There was so many trinkets he could have chosen, so why had he gone with the one that she favored the most?

Noriyuki blushed at the question. "Um, I was there the day Andou-san broke yours," he admitted shyly. "I was hiding and watching. It was that butterfly. Andou-san threw it away, but I went to get it since it seemed so important to you."

Her eyes widened at his admission and she looked away to hide her watering eyes. "You were the one who fixed it."

"Yeah, I stayed up the whole night. I probably should have kept it if I had known you were going to beat the shit out of Andou-san when you got it back," he laughed.

"You saw that, too?" she asked, a little bit horrified as she was still embarrassed about her behavior that day. "Then that means you—"

"Yeah, I saw Uehara-san turn you down and I followed you out where you stomped on it. I must sound like a stalker, huh?" he asked.

Suddenly, Natsumi threw her arms around Noriyuki, hugging him tightly as she cried into his shoulder. "You sound like somebody who cares," she replied. "You were there from the very beginning. I love you, Norichi," she sobbed. "Thank you for trying so hard."

Noriyuki's eyes widened as she had finally said the words that he had been waiting on for so long. "Can I hug you back?" Noriyuki asked shyly, unsure what do at the moment.

"Yeah," Natsumi answered, squeezing him tightly as he slowly brought his arms up around her. He squeezed back, feeling so content that she had finally returned his feelings. He pulled away to look her in the eyes, and then slowly leaned into kiss her, pausing for a second, asking for permission. Natsumi pressed forward, closing the gap between their lips and kissed him with fervor.

"I love you, too, Natsumi-chan. I love you, too," he answered, hugging her back. He was the happiest man alive at this moment and nothing could ruin it.

"Oh, I have something for you," she said, pulling away from him with a grin. "You're always so nice to me and I've realized that I've never given you anything in return!" She carefully picked herself up off from his lap and reached under her bed. "I bought it last week, and was waiting for the right time to give it to you," Natsumi said, and handed him a six-pack of melon milk. _Except for that..._

Noriyuki's eyes widened in surprise at that horrible drink. "Melon milk...?"

"Yes!" Natsumi said happily. "I have a good memory, too, and I remembered that you said you like it. Why, I have no idea, and I got the strangest looks for buying it, too! But I think this is better for you, than the drinks in the vending machine. I think they've been there for years now..."

Natsumi stared at him in confusion when he suddenly burst into rich laughter and he embraced her again. "Natsumi-chan, I hate melon milk," he confessed, causing her to crack up as well. "I wanted ice coffee that day, and hit the wrong button, and then I didn't want to look stupid so lied and drank it. It was the worst thing I have ever had!"

"You're unbelievable," she said, unable to believe that he had done such a thing. "What am I going to do with all this melon milk now? I got the weirdest looks when I bought it for you! Ren-nii even asked if I was going to _poison_ somebody!"

"Well," Noriyuki said, reaching over and opening one of them, "We could always drink it?" he suggested, waiting to hear her laughter some more, a sound he knew he would never get tired of. "Cheers," he said, and took a big gulp of it, wincing as he did so.

"You're crazy!" Natsumi laughed, reaching for the can to try it herself. She made such a repulsed face that Noriyuki couldn't help but to snort the melon milk he was trying to drink and rolled over, whining about how he had just shot melon milk out of his nose. "That's so gross," she giggled, and after he had cleaned himself up with her handkerchief, she leaned in to kiss him again.

Their kiss tasted like melon milk, and maybe, just maybe, the flavor would grow onto the both of them.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach!**

Okay! I'm finally back writing for good this time. Last semester was just awful since I was taking 2 of the hardest courses on my curriculum at the same time so I spent most of my time going to SI sessions and study groups. New Year's Resolution is to finish what I start so I'm hoping to get everything that I have planned written and finished before 2014! And as a New Year's present to myself, I decided to finally change my pen name. It's been long overdue now.

Thank you to anyone who had read, reviewed and is still around!

Half of 12 has been rewritten so you can really skip through the beginning half. I didn't change that at all.

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><p>Andou Ren was a handsome young man, even in death.<p>

He lay forever asleep on top of a wooden pyre, dressed in his best clothes, as his friends and family gathered around to mourn for the loss of his life. Natsumi sobbed uncontrollably clutching at Noriyuki's arm at the realization that her best friend, companion and male mirror was forever gone. Kazuhiro held a stoic expression as tears trickled down his red cheeks for the loss of his pride and joy, his dearest firstborn. Stiffly, he pushed back his son's hair and straightened his clothes as he prepared to send him to be with his late wife. He retained his detached and emotionless mask as his acquaintances approached him one by one to offer their sincere condolences.

However, anger flashed across his expression when he caught sight of Kuchiki Hisana at his son's funeral. "How dare you show your face here?" Kazuhiro growled, calling out Hisana and shattering his reticent mask.

She looked at him in shock and averted her gaze as she guiltily pleaded, "I wanted to say good-bye to Ren-kun."

"You shouldn't have come," Natsumi stated coldly as she joined her father at his side. "It was because of _you_ that this happened."

Hisana stepped back in shock. "You don't really mean that, do you?" she whispered, hurt by her friend's words. She suddenly realized that everybody's attention was on her and the people were talking amongst themselves, about her no doubt. She caught a few words here and there, and realized that the general gist of it was that she had had shamed the Kuchiki family and killed Andou Ren. "I offer you my sincerest apologies. Please let me say good-bye to him," she begged, undeterred by the situation. It was the right thing to do. It would have been what he wanted.

Hisana could feel everybody's eyes on her as she slowly approached where Ren lay in death. "I'm so sorry," she whispered to him as she brushed the back of her hand against his cold cheek. "Please forgive me."

Her fingers lingered over his face and she frowned when she noticed a small trickle of blood at his lip. Slowly, she moved to wipe it away and gasped softly when she found the blood to be wet. She ended up smearing the blood on his handsome features and suddenly found herself back in the woods with Ren slowly dying in her arms.

"I'll never forgive you," he stated as his eyes suddenly opened and locked with hers. Usually bright, she found his green eyes to be dull and dead. The wound at his waist opened and blood began pouring out at an alarming rate. "It's your fault. You _murdered_ me."

"Ren-kun?" Hisana gasped with a horrified look. Her breath was cut off as he suddenly seized her by the throat, practically crushing her windpipe.

"I loved you and you killed me. Give me back my heart," he growled, slowly sitting up. Hisana feebly grabbed his wrist, trying to get him to let go of her, but his grip was strong and unrelenting. "Give me back my heart," he repeated.

"Ren-kun, stop please!" she choked out, trying to breathe. She felt faint and colors began to dance across her vision.

"If you won't return my heart," he whispered, "I suppose I'll just have to take yours then." He let go of her throat and plunged his hand into her chest, ripping out her heart in a quick motion. Vision blurring, Hisana fell back, watching her bloody heart beat in the palm of his hands with a blank stare. "Don't look so shocked," he laughed as he leaned down towards her. His voice escaped his still-bloody lips in a harsh hiss against her skin, causing her to shiver beneath him. "This is justice."

* * *

><p>Hisana woke with a sudden gasp, heart pounding hard against her chest. She had broken into a cold sweat and stifled a soft sob. She grabbed at her chest, feeling her heartbeat thrumming beneath her fingertips. It took her several minutes to convince herself that it hadn't been torn out and then another few to reassess her surroundings. Byakuya was still asleep, (or unconscious, she wasn't sure) as was Noriyuki and Natsumi. They slept, leaning against each other for support, and the sight of them together soothed Hisana's worries just a little.<p>

Careful not to wake any of them, Hisana quietly slipped out of bed, touching bare feet to the cold floor, and draped her blanket over her trembling body, more for warmth rather than modesty. She caught sight of her belongings neatly placed at the side table, and grimaced at the sight of her bloody uniform. Wondering why they hadn't thrown it out, she numbly picked up and unfolded one of the layers of fabric and wondered if most of the dried blood on her uniform had been Ren's. Focusing on her hands, she was thankful that all the blood that had stained her skin had been scrubbed off.

She balled up the fabric and set it back down onto the side table and caught sight of a familiar silver glitter and sighed in relief to find the necklace that Kaien had given her. He had told her it was meant to be a good luck charm, and for that she was thankful. There was a smudge of red on it, and Hisana rubbed at it furiously until it flaked away. Setting it down, she turned her attention to Byakuya and made her way to his bedside slowly.

He looked alright, despite the lacerations on his face and his arm. Hisana vaguely recalled that Noriyuki had said something about how Byakuya wouldn't be able to perform at his full capacity for a while. She looked at him sadly, wishing that she had been the one to have been injured the most by that hollow. She knew that it had been her fault that both Byakuya and Ren had gotten injured, and knew if that if she hadn't been there, they probably would have been able to make it out just fine since she was such a burden to them.

Unable to stay at his side any longer due to the immense guilt weighing on her heart, she turned away and slipped out of their recovery room into the main hallways. She caught sight of a clock, stating that it was still in the early hours of the day, so there was no surprise that there weren't many nurses on call. It made it much easier for Hisana to sneak out and she managed to reach the stairwell and make her escape to the roof where she could be alone.

Inhaling the fresh cold air, Hisana let out a depressed sigh, still mentally kicking herself for what had happened. She still had no idea of Ren's condition and couldn't help but to worry about him nonstop. She knew she'd never be able to look at Natsumi the same ever again if he... Hisana shook her head, clutching her blanket around her shivering body tighter as she refused to think of her nightmare and tried to stay optimistic for what was to come.

She started with surprise when the door opened behind her and turned to face her grandfather. "Jiji," she greeted sheepishly as her breath came out in a fog before her.

"Hisana, what are you doing out here?" Ginrei reprimanded. He reached for his granddaughter, tightening the blanket around her as he pulled her towards him. "Come back in. You're going to catch cold."

"What are you doing here?" she asked softly as she obediently followed him in. "It's late."

"I wanted to make sure you were alright," he answered sincerely as he checked her over to make sure she hadn't opened up any wounds or made anything worse. "You should be resting," he noted. "How are your wounds?"

"I'll be okay," she answered simply, as if she couldn't care less about her condition.

After ushering her back into her room and bed, Ginrei very seriously asked again, "What were you doing out there?"

"I..." Hisana stammered and trailed off shyly, embarrassed for acting so childish. "You'll think I'm silly..."

"Never in my life would I think of you as silly," Ginrei said proudly and obligingly, sensing that her emotions were in turmoil. He would never forgive himself if his own granddaughter couldn't even confide in him. He would not be like Sojun! "You can always tell me anything."

Hisana let out a soft laugh and pressed a soft kiss to her grandfather's cheek. "I had a nightmare, Jiji, that's all. Just an awful dream."

"Would you like to tell me about it? Nightmares lose their darkening powers if you share them."

"We were at Ren-kun's funeral," she hesitantly admitted. "_Everyone_ blamed me for what happened, even Ren-kun." She paused for a second before breaking down into tears. "They were all right. This was my fault, Jiji. I was the one who insisted that we go ahead to Mt. Koifushi."

"There was a squad that went out to the scene," Ginrei stated. "They surveyed the damage, and said everything was in ruins. But you know what was strange? Everything was covered in a thin layer of ice."

"What of it?" she asked as she blinked back tears with a baffled expression at his sudden change of topic.

"Andou-kun's zanpakutō isn't ice-based. Neither is Asahi-kun's," he pointed out. "Did your zanpakutō finally tell you its name?"

"I don't remember," Hisana lied, unable to bring herself to rejoice the fact that she had finally learned her zanpakutō's name. It seemed so wrong to celebrate something so trivial when everything else was going downhill. "

"Don't hold yourself in contempt," Ginrei murmured, with pride in his voice. "Hisana, it's thanks to whatever it was that you did that Asahi-kun and Andou-kun will live."

Hisana ceased her crying, eyes widening at his statement. "You mean Ren-kun is—?"

Ginrei nodded and Hisana suddenly threw herself into her grandfather's embrace, starting to cry tears of happiness. "Oh, thank god! I could never forgive myself if he... Where is he? I want to see him."

"He will not be sharing a room with you tonight. He is still in critical condition so they're keeping him in ICU. If he makes it through the night, you can see him tomorrow," Ginrei said. "But you have to get some rest first."

"Yes, Jiji," she answered, leaning back into her bed with a wince of pain. She paused, and then quietly added, "Her name is Yukianesa."

Ginrei smiled at this, knowing that his granddaughter had achieved shikai. "Congratulations. I look forward to you showing her release to me when you get better."

"Of course, Jiji. Thank you, and good night," she whispered, and was finally able to drift off to sleep now that a heavy weight had been lifted from her soul and conscience.

The next morning, Byakuya had finally awoken from his mini-coma, dazed and confused. Hisana cheerfully shared her hospital breakfast with him (as he was still asleep when they brought it) while Noriyuki and Natsumi helped him eat. Eventually, the two had to leave and return to classes while Hisana sat at Byakuya's side most of the day. Unfortunately for them, the absence of their two friends led to an awkward silence between them. He had not forgotten that Ren had confessed to her in his dying moments and he certainly didn't forget her accepting his feelings and returning them.

"So how is he?" Byakuya asked, deciding that he should at least ask about his teammate.

"Ren-kun's still out like a light," she answered quietly. "They won't let anyone see him until he awakes. Unohana-taichou is seeing to him personally."

It was around noon that Ren had finally woken up and Hisana had wanted to go to his side immediately. Byakuya, who was undergoing a checkup, stated that he would meet up with them later. Ren was half-awake when Unohana finally let Hisana see him. "Ren-kun," she greeted with relief, looking over him carefully to make sure he was alright. His waist was heavily bandaged, but it looked as if he'd be on his way to a decent recovery. It was so good to see him alive and well, considering her nightmare version of him was still fresh on her mind.

He blinked the sleepiness from his eyes and struggled to sit up to greet her properly. He bit his lip hard when a sharp pain tore through his body and collapsed back. "I'm so useless," he murmured as Hisana helped him into a sitting position. "Thanks..."

"You'll get better in no time," she said and then suddenly remembered his panicked admission in the woods that he couldn't feel his legs. "Ren-kun?" she asked and shyly pressed her hand on his thigh. He stared at her, confused, until he suddenly realized what she was doing and had to turn away to muffle a sob. Startled, she pulled her hand away and with a horrified expression, asked, "You can't...?"

"I felt it," he admitted, covering his face as he wiped his tears away. "I thought I'd never be able to walk again. I'm so grateful right now."

"Let me call Natsumi-chan," Hisana said, "She's been worried sick over you."

"Don't, not yet," he pleaded. "She'll just fuss over me and I really don't need that right now." He grimaced when he finally uncovered his face and saw that the palm of his hand was tinged red from flakes of his dried blood. "I must look awful," he commented wryly.

"No, Ren-kun, you look wonderful," she replied as she carefully wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a friendly embrace. "You're alive; that's all that matters. I thought I lost you back there. You really scared me," she admitted.

"Ha, that should be my line," Ren replied, burying his face into her shoulder to hide his face and accept her embrace. "Byakuya, how is he? Is he alright?"

"Yes, yes, he's doing well," she said and quickly brought him up to date on what had happened that horrible night. "The rumor is that somebody deliberately tampered with Mikado-sensei's QR codes and sent us into a trap," she murmured quietly. "We're so lucky to be alive right now. I don't want to imagine what could have happened if—"

"Then don't," Ren said, squeezing his arms around her protectively. "Forgive me. I wasn't able to protect you like I had promised. I must have been such a burden that night."

"Don't say things like that," she said, shushing him. "I should have listened to you instead of insisting that we continue. It's my fault that you got hurt, and I'm so sorry."

"You were really cool, you know?" Ren murmured softly. "I remember you had this look in your eyes and there was all that ice that surrounded you. You were really amazing." Slowly, he pulled away from her embrace to look her in the eyes. "I meant what I said that night," he added shyly. "I really am in love with you," he murmured softly, leaning in and very boldly brushing his lips against hers.

Hisana's eyes went wide, surprised by his uncharacteristic forwardness, and she froze for a second. Regaining control of her body, she slowly reached up to Ren's shoulders and gently pushed him back. She hated letting Ren know that she had accepted his confession out of pity, but at the same time, she knew that he deserved so much better and she owed it to him. "Ren-kun, I'm so sorry," she said quietly.

"It's okay, I get it," Ren said as he agitatedly ran a hand through his hair. "You don't love me back."

"What?" she stammered, shocked at how well he was actually taking this.

"I'm not stupid. I can see that you're not in love with me," Ren replied with a soft laugh. "Could it be that you're in love with somebody else? Byakuya-san, perhaps?"

"I don't know," she answered honestly, looking away from him.

"He's my rival for everything, isn't he?" Ren commented bitterly. "I'm always losing to him, too..."

"Ren-kun," Hisana said softly, feeling horrible for him. "It's not that easy."

"Sure it is," he encouraged. "I'll call off our engagement. That makes it easier, doesn't it?"

"You'd really do that?" she asked.

"It'd leave you with a good impression of me, huh?" he laughed, refusing to show her how hurt he was. "And you better clear things with Byakuya-san. Knowing him, he's still bothered over my dying confession."

"Oh God," Hisana groaned, suddenly remembering how she had accepted his feelings when he was dying. "I'm sorry, Ren-kun, I just thought it would be cruel to refuse a dying man! I shouldn't have led you on like that."

"I was _dying_. I just didn't want to go without any regrets," he said. He suddenly feigned a yawn and curled back into the blankets. "Sorry, I'm still pretty exhausted, and in a whole lot of pain. Do you mind leaving so I can sleep?" he asked, dismissing her as politely as possible.

"I guess I'll see you later then?" Hisana offered meekly after making sure he would be alright alone.

"I'd rather you didn't..." he murmured quietly from beneath the blankets. "I may be the good guy in this, but my pride still needs to heal."

Hisana stepped out from his room after Ren sent her away and was surprised to see Byakuya standing out there in the hallway. "Byakuya-san!" she exclaimed, starting to worry over the indiscernible expression on his face. "What's the matter?"

"I need to talk to Andou-san," he stated flatly.

"He's gone to sleep," she protested, but Byakuya brushed past her and Hisana wondered if he was seething with rage. "Can't it wait?" she asked.

"No, not when it concerns you," he added vehemently and Hisana froze.

"Byakuya-san, please don't!" she pleaded, but he was quick to get into Ren's room and lock the door behind him.

"Come here to gloat, have you?" Ren asked, peeking out from beneath his blankets. "Eavesdropping is _such_ a nasty habit."

"Why would you break off your engagement with her?" Byakuya asked quietly.

"What do you take me for? I'm not a cruel person, you know," Ren answered defensively. "If she doesn't love me, I could never make her happy. Right now, she only wants to marry me out of obligation to her family, but down the road, she'll hate me, and we'll both be unhappy. There's no point in marry her if we can't even have a happy future."

"She's not better off with me," Byakuya answered, slumping down into one of the chairs by Ren's bed. "What future could she possibly have with me?"

"A happy one?" Ren asked.

"Maybe, but down the road, wouldn't she resent me for taking her away from her home? And then she too would hate me," Byakuya said as he began pouring Ren and himself a glass of water.

"I think we're not giving Hisana-san enough credit. She's not that kind of person and we both know that," Ren stated as he accepted the glass. "And who says you have to take her away from her manor? Why don't you just become the 28th head of the Kuchiki family?"

Byakuya coughed, choking on his water at Ren's suggestion. "Are you crazy?!" he asked between coughs. "I'm nobody, remember? There's no way that I'd be allowed to marry her."

"With that attitude you can't," Ren replied.

"Don't you think this is all a bit forward?" Byakuya pointed out, still coughing. "I don't even know what we are, and you're already talking about me _marrying_ her?"

"Oh, you're talking about dating," Ren said blankly. "Doesn't this count as dating? Two rivals fighting for her affections and trying to woo her. Since I'm backing out, that means you win, so you get to marry her."

Byakuya stared at him, wondering what was wrong Ren and why his logic actually made a little bit of sense. "Wait, why are _you_ even encouraging me? We're rivals, remember? Shouldn't you be trying to _sabotage_ me?" Byakuya asked, suddenly suspicious of Ren.

"Do you _really_ think that little of me?" Ren snorted. "Sure, I'm bitter that I've lost to you again, but we're still friends, aren't we? And even though Hisana-san rejected me, I still wish for her happiness, even if that means she's choosing you over me. But since you put it like that, maybe I shouldn't give up on her so easily."

"You're... actually a really nice guy, aren't you?" Byakuya said, turning away from Ren.

"Not all nobles are what you portray them to be," he replied.

"What am I supposed to even say to her?"

"Tell her... Tell her that I want the both of you to keep me posted on what I miss in class, and that I expect to you both to help me catch up when I get out of here," Ren smiled. "You two always overcomplicate things."

After wishing Ren a speedy recovery, Byakuya finally left and upon opening the door, he found Hisana sitting outside, hugging her knees and face buried in her arms. She looked up once hearing the creak of the door and quickly scrambled to her feet. "We need to talk!" she blurted out quickly, grabbing Byakuya's sleeve.

"No, we don't," Byakuya answered, taking Ren'd advice for once. "Everything's alright, so stop worrying."

"But Ren-kun-!" Hisana protested.

"He said that we need to make sure he doesn't fall too far behind," Byakuya said simply. "And that we need to stop over thinking things."

Hisana stared at him with a bewildered look before it finally clicked. "Ah," she said, following Byakuya down the hall. "Everything really is alright then..."


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach!**

13 has been completely rewritten for the most part (again). Man, 13 has really been such an unlucky number for me.  
>I swear that this will be the last time I rewrite this chapter!<br>Quick note to someone in special, Ibara means Bryiar ;)

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><p>"You did what?!" Andou Kazuhiro roared, not even attempting to keep his voice down as he glared at his son.<p>

"I said I broke off my engagement with Hisana-san," Ren replied, barely looking up from the book he was studying. Being confined in a hospital room was terribly boring for Ren as he was forbidden to attempt anything for his performances class. To not fall behind, he dutifully kept up with his readings for his Studies classes.

Ren glanced over to Natsumi who was squeezing Noriyuki's hand with fear. It had been her fault, really, that Kazuhiro had diverted his attention on him. Not wanting her brother to be alone, she began doing all her homework in his hospital room, and usually, Noriyuki accompanied her. Today, however, Kazuhiro decided to pay a visit, and after noticing the closeness between his daughter and the Rukon Ochibi, he had immediately demanded them of their relationship. After hesitantly admitting to her father that she was in love with him, Ren suddenly announced that he wasn't going to marry Hisana to spare his sister.

"Why would you do that?! I had your future set out for you. You were going to be the 28th Head of the Kuchiki family! Do you understand what an honor that is?!" Kazuhiro demanded.

"She's not in love with me," Ren replied, noting how red-faced his father was becoming and how his eyes were starting to bulge.

"Love?! You're ruining your life because of a petty thing like _love_?! Those things mean nothing when you have status. They will not help you rise to power."

"Father, I'm sorry, but status means nothing to me if I can't be happy. Don't you think my happiness matters too?" Ren asked. In the corner of his eye, he could see Noriyuki squirming and trying to make his escape. A glare from Natsumi made him sit up straight and stop fidgeting.

"You could have anything you wanted if you were to join the Kuchiki family!" Kazuhiro reasoned. "Anything! You'd have your happiness then!" Ren could see that he wasn't angry more. More like desperate.

"Ah, I see," Ren said, suddenly realizing why it had been so important for him to marry Hisana. It wasn't so that _he_ could be happy and gain status and power. It was so Kazuhiro could. "Can't we talk about this another time? All this shouting can't be good for my recovery," he said evasively, trying to dismiss his father.

Kazuhiro stared at his son incredulously, so shocked by nonchalance. "Alright..." he said, defeated, knowing that there would be no way to change his son's mind at the moment. For a moment, he seemed startled by Natumi's and Noriyuki's presence, having forgotten about them completely, and upon remembering why he had been upset with his daughter, he sighed, and then left without another word.

"Thanks, Andou-san..." Noriyuki squeaked.

"Yeah, thanks, Ren-nii," Natsumi added. "He wasn't supposed to meet Norichi like that."

"You owe me one," Ren said with a shrug.

"Did you really mean what you said?" Noriyuki hesitantly added. "About not wanting to marry Hisana-chan?"

"Yeah, I meant it," Ren said quietly. "I couldn't have made her happy, and I know I wouldn't have been happy either so it's for the best really."

"Ren-nii!" Natsumi exclaimed, throwing her arms around her brother abruptly.

"Ow! Get off!" he shouted, trying to push her off. "You're going to rip open my wounds!"

"Ren-nii! You're such a romantic!" she said, hugging him tighter.

"Am not!" he retorted dryly, turning away to hide the blush on his face.

"Shhh, it's okay," Natsumi cooed, still refusing to let him go despite his attempted shoving. "You don't need to hide it anymore! Let it all out."

"You're insane! Nori-san, get her off me!" Ren growled. "I can feel my stitches popping out one by one."

After Noriyuki had gotten Natsumi to calm down, they both took their leave and bid Ren a speedy recovery. Ren sighed, deciding that maybe he would get some reading done until he fell asleep. He was fidgety and anxious and fighting with his father and having his sister pounce of him surprisingly didn't drain him of all his energy like he had thought it would. Ren smiled to himself, knowing that he was already getting stronger again, and decided to try and get back on his feet again.

Upon entering the hallway, he had nearly collided with a pretty girl, with dark hair pulled into short twin tails. "Andou-kun!" she exclaimed with surprise, grabbing him by the shoulders to steady him. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Um, are you feeling better already?"

"Senpai," he said, recognizing the girl as one of his brief acquaintances. They had crossed paths a couple of times during his years in Shinô and they had exchanged a few pleasant words with one another. "Yeah, I'm already feeling a lot better, thanks for asking. So what are you doing here?"

"One of my friends fell down the stairs. I'm here to pick her up," she replied, pointing down the hallway. "You got banged up really bad, huh?"

"Just a scratch," he said humorlessly. "I guess I'll let you go then? Your friend probably wants to get out of here as soon as she can. I know I do!"

"Right," she murmured, glancing down the hallway and the back to him. "Take care of yourself, alright?"

As she said her goodbye with a smile and turned away to leave, Ren's heart skipped a beat and his face felt hot. The feeling that welled up in his chest was so much more than what he had ever felt for Hisana, and right then, he knew that Hisana was never the right person for him. He had to move on. "Um, Senpai!" he stammered.

"Hm? What's the matter, Andou-kun?"

"When I get discharged from here, do you think you'd want to meet up for coffee sometime and catch up?"

Caught off-guard, Ibara Mio looked at her kouhai with surprise which quickly turned into a warm smile. "Sure, Andou-kun. Give me a call the day you get discharged and I'll come pick you up. Deal?"

Ren nodded with a happy go-lucky smile. "Deal."

* * *

><p>"You did what?" Kuchiki Sojun asked with a shocked expression. Ginrei sat beside him on his knees with an emotionless mask while his daughter knelt before them with a troubled expression.<p>

"Ren-kun and I broke off our engagement," Hisana repeated hesitantly.

"Does Kazuhiro already know of this?" Sojun asked.

"Yes, and I thought it would have been better for you to hear it from me than him," she reasoned, recalling the text message Ren had sent her.

"_Just told my father we broke off our engagement. He's seething. I think his eyes are going to pop out! "_

"It was a mutual decision," Hisana added quietly, hoping that would lessen the blow to Sojun.

"He was perfect for you. He would have brought prosperity to the Kuchiki family," he murmured in defeat. It was clear what was done was done. His daughter was already a stubborn one, and if Ren was anything like his father, then he, too, would stubbornly uphold this decision. "I don't understand. You two were getting along _so_ well. What happened?"

"Ren-kun and I are nothing more but friends. I'm not in love with him, and I know _you_ don't care for fickle things like emotions, but he does, and so do I, so please, just respect our decisions on this..." Hisana pleaded.

"He has another woman in his life?" Sojun questioned.

"No, not yet, but—"

"So _you_ have somebody else in mind," Sojun deduced. "Who?"

"Father, it's not like that," Hisana said quickly. "He's just a classmate. I don't even think we're even in that part of the relationship where he's courting me."

"Who?" Sojun repeated impatiently.

"His name is Asahi Byakuya-san. He originates from Rukongai, but please hear me out!" Hisana said, cutting off her father before he could even protest. "He's brilliant. He's ranked number in our elite Zanjutsu class. He ranks extremely well in everything else and Kaien-dono is training him, and he even sees the potential Byakuya-san has an officer of the Gotei Thirteen."

Her father was rendered speechless and he helplessly turned to Ginrei, begging him to say something to save her previous engagement. "I think we should meet him," Ginrei stated.

"What?" Sojun and Hisana both gasped.

"We Kuchiki are a well-off family that must uphold the laws of the Soul Society. Arranged marriages are just old traditions. Don't you think we have the power as Kuchikis to give the less fortunate opportunities to rise to power?"

"We don't owe that to them," Sojun argued.

"But we're setting examples for the others. It would look good for the Kuchiki family, wouldn't it?" Hisana asked, unsure if Byakuya would appreciate becoming their charity case. Knowing him, he'd be furious.

"Sojun, the Andou engagement is clearly off if both of them won't go through with it," Ginrei said. "If what Hisana and even what Kaien says about this boy is true, then he has more potential than the Andou boy to become head of our family."

"That boy doesn't understand what it takes to become head of the family," Sojun reiterated, throwing out his last argument to prevent a nobody from taking his family.

"Then teach him!" Hisana pleaded, bowing down to her father. "You've already made me take lessons on how to be a proper wife, so he can learn, too, can't he? Kaien-dono will help and will Ren-kun! Father, please, I'm begging _you_."

Sojun looked at his daughter in surprise, upon hearing the emphasis in her words. She had always gone to Ginrei when she wanted something, but for her to beg him of all people only showed her sincerity and hope for this boy. "Alright, but I want to meet him first."

* * *

><p>"Hi, Byakuya, thank you so much for meeting me this late of an hour," Hisana murmured.<p>

"Of course," he answered with a slight frown. "What was so urgent that you couldn't tell me through an email or over the phone?"

"We _really_ need to talk," she hesitantly stated, knowing that Byakuya disliked confrontations as much as she did.

"Oh," he said, suddenly realizing what she meant.

"I told my father that I broke off my engagement with Ren-kun a few hours ago," she announced confidently. "He wasn't happy about it, but he's accepted it after finding out it was a mutual decision. He knows there's nothing he can do to change our minds. So I have to know, where does that leave us?"

"You're really aggressive today..." Byakuya commented, noting the disappearance of her docile nature. "I think I'm glad that I don't have to keep competing with Andou-san for your affections."

"So you're my boyfriend then?" Hisana asked awkwardly. Seeing the pink tint on Byakuya's face, she quickly added, "This wouldn't happen if we had just talked about it yesterday! But no, you just _had _ to convince me that everything was going to be okay. Well you know what? It's not! It's far from okay!" She was shouting now, practically having a panic attack.

Byakuya slowly backed away at her sudden craziness and slowly asked, "Hisana-san, are you alright? Did something happen?"

"Did something happen?" she repeated. "Yes! Both my grandfather and father want to meet you and I just now realized that you're not even courting me!"

"Calm down," Byakuya said, concerned, as he placed his hands on her shoulders to steady her. "We have a strange relationship, and with Andou-san always in the way, I didn't think that I _could_ court you."

"So you are courting me now then?"

"Yeah, I guess I am then," he answered confidently and kissed her to show that he was sincere. "I might be in love with you, too, if you still don't believe me," he professed.

"Thank you," Hisana sighed, embracing him tightly. "I worry for you, too, you know. Both my father and grandfather are intimidating men and I fear that I'm asking too much of you already."

"It'll be fine," Byakuya assured her, despite the fact that inwardly, he was already feeling pressured by meeting the two most important men in Hisana's life after Kaien. In any case, he'd rather face a hollow than meet her family...

* * *

><p>"I don't understand, how did it all come down to this?" Byakuya questioned with a sigh.<p>

Ren shrugged as his fingers struggled to fold a sheet of origami paper into a crane. "You're making progress, aren't you?"

"He's worried that he's going to make a fool out of himself," Noriyuki said.

"He couldn't do as bad as you did meeting my father," Ren replied to Noriyuki with a smirk, causing the smaller boy to groan loudly.

"He despises my poor guts!"

"I should have gone to Shiba-sensei about this," Byakuya muttered, defeated.

"You're going to be expected to serve under Kuchiki-taichou in the Sixth Company," Ren lazily mentioned, not even looking up from his arts and crafts. "Don't even think about applying to the other Companies, not even the Thirteenth. Besides that, you'll also have to visit other noble families, entertain them in your manor when you host dinners, and you know, be _sociable_ for once."

"You're going too far ahead," Noriyuki said, "I think he's just panicking about meeting her father and grandfather and how to converse with them."

"Oh, that's easy, you put Hisana-san first over all else," Ren replied. "If they ask you a this or that question, you answer with the one that benefits Hisana-san. If they banish you off their property, you don't complain and you leave, believing that this is what's best for Hisana-san."

"They're going _banish_ me off the property?" Byakuya repeated, horrified at the thought.

"I don't know; I get along quite well with them so I don't have that issue," Ren replied cheerily. In response, Byakuya snatched the crooked paper crane out of Ren's hands and promptly tore it in half. "Oi! Was that really necessary?! You're going to lose points with her family if you keep up that attitude!"

"What are you even doing?" Noriyuki asked, picking up the flimsy halves of the paper crane. "Isn't this a girl's activity?"

"Both genders can do it!" Ren replied defensively.

Noriyuki glanced over to Ren's nightstand where more crooked paper cranes sat contently. "Jeez, you're really bad at this," he commented looking over all of them. His eyes settled over a perfect crane with butterfly patterns on it and he picked it up. "There's no way you folded this one. Was it Natsumi-chan? Oh, there's a note. _Get well soon, Andou-kun. From Mi-chan._" Noriyuki stared at it blankly and then suddenly exclaimed, "Who's Mi-chan?!"

"Nobody!" Ren said quickly, grabbing the crane from Noriyuki, and carefully setting it back onto his nightstand. "She's a friend, that's all."

"Can we focus back on _my _dilemma?" Byakuya asked, raising his voice slightly.

"Honestly, it's not that big of a deal. Just be your usual charming self and you'll win them right over. And just be sure to fix that attitude of yours and put Hisana-san's needs above your own," Ren replied hastily while rolling his eyes. "You should be glad the situations aren't reversed! A wife has a lot more duties than her husband. She has to learn calligraphy, ikebana, music—"

"And paper folding?" Noriyuki snorted.

"Shut it, you, or I'm going to put in a bad word for you to my father," Ren threatened.

"You two are no help. I'm going to Shiba-sensei," Byakuya sighed, thinking of the two to be extremely childish.

"I'll walk with you," Noriyuki said, bidding farewell to Ren.

"When did you two get so close?" Byakuya asked, suddenly noticing how his brother and rival were getting along so well.

"I'm courting his sister. I have to get close to him," Noriyuki said as-a-matter-of-factly. "With your rivalry for Hisana-chan's affections out of the way, you two are getting along well, too. You know, you should really stop hating Andou-san so much. He's helping you win over the family of the girl he loves."

"I don't think he loves her anymore," Byakuya muttered, thinking of Mi-chan's paper crane.

"You think he's going to get over that fast?" Noriyuki scoffed. "He _really_ liked her, but now that he's backed off, he wants to be your friend and be a noble person. That Mi-chan's got nothing on Hisana-chan for him. She's probably just one of the numerous girls in our class who have a crush on him and he's too nice to throw out the token of her affections."

"You sound like you're rooting for him," Byakuya said accusingly, unsure of how he felt about Ren stealing his best friend for him. The last thing he needed now was to compete with Ren for Noriyuki's attention!

"Never! You always come first to me, Byakuya," Noriyuki said quickly, appalled that his best friend could even think such a thing. Sure, maybe he had been giving Natsumi a lot of attention lately, but she would never come between the two. "When you meet Hisana-chan's family, you are going to win them over, just like you've done so with her. Don't you dare let them intimidate you."

Byakuya grimaced, recalling all the 'tips' Hisana, Ren, and now Noriyuki had given him. "Easier said than done..."


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach!**

Whoo finally got over that unlucky 13 speed bump and am actually writing NEW things.  
>Too bad I published all a month too late, haha.<br>So much for that New Year's Resolution. Well, better late than never.

* * *

><p>There were many things Byakuya would rather be doing at the moment. He would rather sit though Kaien's ridiculous motivational speeches, or be Noriyuki's punching bag for Hakuda, or even study Kidō with Ren in a hospital. He did not, however, want to sit through a dinner with Hisana 's family or endure through <em>all<em> the preparations he had to make just to have a single meal.

Kaien was the one who brought it up, having been invited as well for Byakuya's sake. He had casually asked, "What are you going to wear tonight?"

Byakuya had been about to make a snide remark about him acting like a schoolgirl until he realized that he really had no idea what he was supposed to wear. When Kaien was done laughing at him, he decided he would lend Byakuya one of his own formal male kimonos, and for a moment, their problems were solved until Kaien then hesitantly asked if Byakuya was going to do anything with his hair.

"You're acting like a big girl!" Byakuya snapped offensively, swatting Kaien's hand away from his hair.

"With long hair like that, I think you're the girliest one out of us," Kaien retorted dryly as he reached out and pulled on Byakuya's hair tie, causing his hair to fall down against the nape of his neck. "Why don't you cut it?"

"I'm _not_ cutting my hair," Byakuya hissed vehemently as he snatched the string out of Kaien's hands and then proceeded to tie his hair back. "And if you say something about needing makeup, I swear to God I will end you."

"A little bit of powder couldn't be that bad for your complexion," Kaien joked, and then laughed out loud at the deadpanned look on his protégé's face. He was done when his sides started hurting and he complimented, "At least you're smart enough to tie it back."

After that, Kaien patronizingly taughth Byakuya how to properly wear a formal kimono because due to his upbringing in Rukongai, Byakuya never had an opportunity to wear such expensive clothes. They felt heavy and unfamiliar on him, and he couldn't help but to cringe when Kaien had kindly remarked that he looked like a dashing nobleman. Before heading off to the Kuchiki manor, Kaien rushed through a lesson on etiquette and reminded Byakuya to watch his attitude and know his place.

"_Know my place_?!" Byakuya repeated, offended by Kaien's choice of words.

"I'm sorry, I know it's wrong, and you don't have to worry about Kuchiki-taichou, Hisana's grandfather, but Kuchiki-sama, her father, is the worst and he's the one who you need to charm and win approval from," Kaien explained hastily. "That man is the worst person ever."

"Why?"

Kaien froze, surprised that Byakuya would even ask something so simple. He had always joked with Hisana over her father's attitude, but he never considered _why_ he had gone through such a personality change. "I would say his heart died with his wife," Kaien said quietly. "

When they approached the Kuchiki manor later that night, they were greeted by the steward who graciously invited them into the foyer. Hisana greeted them politely and respectfully like a proper woman and hostess and then proceeded to introduce Byakuya to her father and grandfather. Afterwards, she led them all to the _ima_, living space, where she proceeded to pour tea for her guests.

"Hisana said that you are one of her classmates," Sojun commented, starting up a conversation and wasting no time in getting the information that he wanted.

"Yes, sir, we were assigned to the same mock-squad with Andou-san," Byakuya answered in the friendliest tone he could muster.

"Kuchiki-taichou, how has the new recruits for your company been looking?" Kaien interrupted, saving Byakuya by changing the subject.

"They're very talented, of course, but still, none of them amount to you," Ginrei answered. "How are your recruits looking?"

"Ukitake-taichou and I were actually very lucky to get this year's salutatorian in our recruits."

"Of course, Ukitake-taichou is a very well-respected man. Anybody would be honored to serve under him, yourself included."

"Did you try to recruit Shiba-sensei into your company?" Byakuya asked curiously.

"Jiji-sama and Kyoraku-taichou both wanted Kaien-dono to serve in their company, but he decided to go with Ukitake-taichou instead!" Hisana answered brightly. "Jiji-sama was so disappointed."

Ginrei chuckled lightly at his granddaughter's words and nodded with admission. "It's true."

"Have you any thoughts of which company you're going to serve?" Sojun questioned, looking straight at Byakuya with an ever-present scowl as he tried to steer the conversation back to getting what he wanted.

"I honestly haven't given it much thought," Byakuya answered. "I've considered the Thirteenth, perhaps, because Kaien is my sensei, but it would also be an honor to serve under you, Kuchiki-taichou."

"With his scores and class rankings, Byakuya-san could serve under any company that he wanted to," Hisana added.

"What are you class rankings?" Sojun asked curiously.

"I ranked first in Zanjutsu my first year. After this year's midterms, I am ranked number one in Zanjutsu and Kidō," Byakuya answered.

"Where do you place in Hakuda and Hohou then?" Sojun asked, zeroing in onto Byakuya's weaknesses.

"Number three and four, respectively," he answered, and waited for Sojun's criticism.

"That's very impressive," Ginrei commented instead, causing Kaien to beam proudly for his student.

"Thank you, sir," Byakuya answered, surprised to hear such a thing.

For the rest of the night, Sojun looked uncomfortable, and tried to find something else to nitpick about Byakuya, but it seemed hard considering he had warranted approval from Ginrei, Kaien and even Andou Ren. After they had eaten their meal, Sojun had requested to speak with Byakuya privately with Ginrei. Byakuya had looked back at Kaien and Hisana with a desperate look, begging for one of them to step in and save him.

"When are you supposed to graduate?" Sojun asked when they were seated in Ginrei's office.

"I graduate when Hisana-san and Andou-san do," Byakuya answered, confused by the question. "In four years time," he clarified.

"Have you considered graduating earlier than planned?" Ginrei questioned. "Surely Shiba has mentioned it to you."

"He hasn't, actually..." Byakuya replied, and the thought of graduating earlier than expected had never even crossed his mind.

"You seem to be a smart lad, and I can aid you in moving up a class," Ginrei explained.

"Forgive me for saying this, but shouldn't you be giving Hisana-san that opportunity?" Byakuya answered.

"It would be wasted," Sojun said flatly.

"Wasted?" Byakuya repeated.

"That is a harsh word," Ginrei said calmly, "but it is unfortunately true, nonetheless. The Kuchiki is a traditional family so Hisana cannot be head of the family. It is her husband's right."

"Husband..." Byakuya muttered to himself, unnerved by how fast this was going. Why was it that everything was suddenly moving so fast now that Ren had simply backed off. "Isn't this a bit fast?"

"We had already planned the ceremony with Andou-san!" Sojun snapped. "All those preparations were for naught!"

"If I recall correctly, Hisana-san said she wasn't getting married until after she graduates," Byakuya said.

"You sound like you're having second thoughts," Ginrei commented with a worried look.

"You're assuming that I'm actually willing to let you marry my daughter," Sojun scoffed.

"Forgive me..." Byakuya answered hastily, already dreading where this conversation was now headed. "You have been pushing Hisana-san nonstop and I feel like you're urgently rushing this so please forgive my assumptions."

"Why do you want to become a Shinigami?" Ginrei asked, deciding it would be best to change the subject before Sojun could become more enraged.

"It's personal..." Byakuya answered uncomfortably. If he was unable to share this piece with Kaien and Hisana, there was no way he could even tell Hisana's family this! He was just far too stubborn and distrustful for his own good. Seeing the sudden look of disapproval in Sojun's eyes, he hesitantly added, "To protect somebody I care for."

"The boy you entered Shinō with?" Ginrei asked.

"No..."

"Then who?" Sojun pressed.

"I don't want to answer this," Byakuya said, looking away, and Ginrei couldn't help but to notice the shame in the young man's eyes.

"Very well," he said, willing to let it go.

Sojun, however, was not. "You and that boy came from Rukongai, correct?"

"Yes, _Noriyuki_ and I lived there for most of our lives," he said. Already knowing which question was coming next, he added, "We lived in the 10th before applying for Shinō. I used to live in the 70th when I first arrived."

"_Arrived?_" Sojun repeated with an appalled look. "He shouldn't be allowed to become a Shinigami, let alone my daughter's husband, and god forbid, the head of this family!"

Byakuya was taken aback by Sojun's sudden outburst and looked to Ginrei, wondering what reaction the stoic man would have to this. To his surprise, Ginrei also looked concerned over this. "I don't understand what's the matter..."

"Of course you don't, you're _human_," Sojun said, spitting out the last word like an insult.

"He has outstanding potential regardless," Ginrei said, willing to overlook this issue.

"I _was_ human. I'm dead now," Byakuya interjected, trying to dismiss the silly fact.

"The Kuchiki have to uphold the law!" Sojun said warningly, flat out ignoring Byakuya. He would not waste the opportunity to get this street rat out of his home.

"There is no law against humans becoming Shinigami or heading a family," Ginrei said sternly. "I think it would be a nice change for our family."

"Change?" Sojun repeated, clearly enraged by his father's nonchalance. "Are you saying you approve of this boy? You do not even know his feelings towards Hisana!"

"I do love Hisana," Byakuya said defensively. "I know I might not show it, but I really do have sincere feelings for her."

"Why? Because of fortune she comes with?" Sojun sneered.

"No, because she didn't see me as human or trash. She saw me as a person, and a friend," Byakuya answered, flustered. "She makes me feel like I matter."

"Sojun, you've been thinking so much about the status of this family that you haven't even considered your daughter's well-being," Ginrei stated quietly. "Don't you think this is what's best for her? To be able to love and be loved by her husband? She deserves nothing less."

With Ginrei's mind made up, Sojun had clearly lost. Refusing to go down submissively, he proposed one last effort and stopping this. "He still needs to prove his worth to the Kuchiki family. He will move up a class and graduate one year early. Instead of training with Shiba, he serves under the Sixth, and if he can achieve Bankai by the time Hisana graduates from Shinō, then he can marry her and become head of this family."

"Bankai? I've barely mastered my Shikai!" Byakuya thought with a horrified look. He looked to Ginrei, hoping that he would protest to such a challenge.

"You better train hard then, Byakuya," Ginrei said knowing that for once, his son was right. "I will speak to Mikado-sensei to move you up a class."

"Thank you for the opportunity. I won't let you down..." Byakuya answered, closing his eyes. He wanted to marry, Hisana, so if he had to endure years of hard training to do, he would accomplish this feat and prove his worth to her and her family.

The three returned to Kaien and Hisana who had busied themselves with preparing sweet _wagashi _desserts. Hisana smiled warmly and supportively to Byakuya, and then Ginrei, knowing that her grandfather must have convinced Sojun to give him a chance. The rest of the night had been filled with small talk, and Sojun eventually excused himself, probably unable to stand the sight of happiness, and when Ginrei retired to his quarters for an early morning, Byakuya knew it was time for him to leave with Kaien as well.

"I think this went really well, tonight," Hisana admitted, as she walked the two out. "Thank you for coming with, Kaien-dono."

"I'm going to go on ahead. God knows that the two of you need a moment," Kaien said with a wink and headed off.

"Your father is..." Byakuya started, and then stopped, unsure on how he should have finished that sentence.

"He's quite the piece of work," Hisana frowned. "He didn't give you any trouble, did he?"

"He was appalled at the fact that I'm human," Byakuya said hesitantly and then carefully watched for Hisana's reaction to this.

Her eyes lit up with surprise at this fact, but she didn't seem the repulsed at all. "You're human?" she repeated. "I didn't realize it. Is that what my father gave you such trouble over?"

"I don't understand what the problem is," he admitted. "I'm not human anymore. I died, remember?"

"It's complicated," Hisana said, trying to think of a simple way to explain. "There are those who believe that we're superior to you because we were born here. It is also believed that those who are born as a soul are more powerful than those born as a human, but you've clearly disproved that theory."

"So being human is looked down upon..." Byakuya concluded.

"Is Nori-chan also...?" Hisana asked hesitantly.

"He was born in Rukongai. He's a _pure_ soul with no traces of human in him," he answered bitterly, surprised at himself for being envious of such a silly little detail.

"Byakuya-san, what's the matter?" Hisana asked, bewildered by his behavior. She grabbed his sleeve, effectively halting his movements. "I don't see you any different because you were human once. There is nothing that distinguishes you from anyone else, so please don't be upset by what my father has said."

"It's not just what he said. Your grandfather is speaking to Mikado-sensei to put me on an even more accelerated course and then he wants me to start serving in the 6th Company when I'm out of class."

"That's a good thing!" Hisana exclaimed, thrilled for him. "What's the matter? You don't look very happy."

"I'm sorry," Byakuya said hastily. "Shouldn't that be _your_ opportunity? Who am I to come in and steal what's yours?"

"That should be _your_ opportunity!" he answered. "Who am I to come in and steal what's yours?"

"It's not stealing," Hisana corrected. "We Kuchiki are a traditional family. I'm not supposed to succeed the family because I'm female. My husband has to do so."

"Then you deserve—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence!" Hisana exclaimed, abruptly pressing her hand over his mouth to silence him. "I don't want to hear you diminish your self-worth anymore! You have my grandfather's approval and to me, that is the greatest honor anyone can have."

"I don't want you to diminish yours either," Byakuya said gently as he took her hands into his. "There's also one more thing... I have to achieve Bankai by the time you graduate, and if I do that, then I can marry you."

"I know you can do it," Hisana said, embracing him supportively, despite knowing how achieving Bankai was a near impossible feat. But if Byakuya could solidify zanpakutō and achieve Shikai in such a short amount of time, then perhaps Bankai would be another easy task for him to accomplish and she would support him no matter what, even if it meant they might not be able to see each other anymore.

Byakuya leaned in and gently brushed his lips against hers chastely. "I may not be the best at showing my emotions, but know that I do sincerely love you. And I will achieve Bankai for you. I won't let you down."

* * *

><p>When Byakuya returned to his dorm, Noriyuki excitedly asked how things had gone to which Byakuya relayed a very abridged version of the night, including the racism between souls and humans.<p>

"Wow, I never even thought that would be a factor," Noriyuki commented, looking over himself. "Lucky me, I guess."

"Yeah, that's one less thing for you to worry about when you marry Natsumi-san."

"Her father scares me," he admitted. "I made a very bad first impression, so I doubt he'd let me marry Natsumi. He might even take it out on me when he finds out that you're the one Hisana-chan chose over Ren-san."

"Hisana's father scares me, too," Byakuya responded lightly. "He's just a spiteful person."

"Why?" Noriyuki asked curiously, hoping that he would never have to cross paths with this man.

"He's heartless," Byakuya replied quietly.

Sensing the somber mood, Noriyuki was quick to change the topic. "Well, you know, I'm not going to let you get number one rank in Hakuda so easily!"

"You won't step down for me?" Byakuya chuckled.

"Heck no, and I'm going to enjoy knocking you down every time you try to steal it from me," Noriyuki said smugly.

"Well, you actually don't have to worry about that," he said. "I'm moving up a class so I have to compete with them for number one now. At least you're spot isn't in danger anymore."

"Danger? I was never threatened to begin with!" Noriyuki answered defensively. "But I'm sure Ren-san will be thrilled now that he can be number one for a change."

"I'm sure he will be," Byakuya muttered, knowing that Hisana was going to be left alone with the likes of him now. "Keep an eye on him for me, okay?"

Noriyuki snorted, and began laughing. Byakuya rolled his eyes irritably, wondering why everyone was always laughing the words that came out of his mouth. "You're kidding, right? Ren-san isn't going to go after Hisana with you out of the picture. You're so dense sometimes," he said, giggling at the deadpanned look on Byakuya's face. After wiping the tears from his eyes, he nodded slowly. "I'll make sure my pending future-brother-in-law doesn't try to steal your pending-fiancée. You know, we have to have the most dysfunctional relationships ever." Noriyuki grinned at this and flopped back down onto the bed. "But it'll be worth it, you know, when this is all over. It feels like just yesterday, we were starving in Rukongai, and look where we are now. We're accomplished. You're going to achieve Bankai, Byakuya, and you're going to marry Hisana-chan. I know you will."

"You two have so much faith in me," Byakuya commented wryly.

"You have yet to meet a feat that you haven't been able to accomplish."

"You're forgetting about my sister."

Noriyuki paused thoughtfully and then answered, "That's still a work-in-progress and doesn't count since you haven't failed yet."

Sometimes Byakuya wished he could have been as optimistic as Noriyuki and Hisana and could have that same unwavering faith in himself...


	15. Side Story: Prove You Wrong

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach!**

Okay, so I really wasn't planning on writing another side story at all but Sabathiel requested it since she's a fan of Ren (which I still don't get why) so this is for her, even though it is very late... :P  
>I hate that I'm so busy. I want to write but I lack the time to do so and it annoys me to no end! Well, enjoy the double update either way.<p>

Thank you Sabathiel,Girls In White Dresses, iofioio and IStoleDaCake for reviewing~

* * *

><p>To be honest, Andou Ren isn't really sure what love is.<p>

Growing up, he didn't have many friends and having been raised under his father's strict tutelage, he had been taught that silly emotions like love were a weakness and power was what was really important to get ahead in life. As the only son and future head of his family, Ren never doubted his father's words and dutifully kept his emotions in check and to himself, knowing that he would be severely punished if he dared to act out.

Natsumi had it much easier and Ren couldn't help but to be envious of her freedom. He knew it was only because of their mother's early passing and their father had no idea how to communicate with his daughter so he found it best to let her do as she wished. Ren was almost positive that their father was merely indulging in Natsumi's wishes to become a Shinigami since they all knew that she would end up quitting to become a dutiful wife to the nobleman she would be married off to.

Ren was actually lucky to be able to attend Shinô since his father wanted to keep a close eye on him with prestigious hired tutors, but Natsumi desperately wanted the public school experience and it was Ren's job as her older brother to look after her. Looking back on it now, Ren is sure that the only reason his father gave in to Natsumi's incessant begging was only because he found out Kuchiki Sojun's daughter would be enrolling as well.

The Andou siblings hadn't been sure what to expect their first day, but the familiar faces of acquaintances, Uehara Chiaki and Shigeru Raiden, had definitely put them at ease. Ren had every intention of keeping a low profile, but Natsumi was too busy trying to fit in and create a popular image for herself. After a little bit of peer pressure, she even joined Chiaki and Raiden on making jokes about the lower-class Rukongai students, much to Ren's annoyance. Simply put, his sister's lack of a backbone disgusted him.

Even so, Ren bit his tongue and kept his emotions and opinions to himself until they took it too far one day and made the quiet, soft-spoken Kuchiki Hisana snap. Unable to let her commit a social suicide, Ren went back on his teachings and raised his voice to shoulder the blame for her. He might have gone overboard after humiliating both Chiaki and Raiden and making his sister cry. Hisana didn't even seem that happy that he came to her rescue and of course, Byakuya and Noriyuki, weren't too happy about having someone fight their battles for them. Ren swore that this would be the last time he would ever stick his neck out like that and help anybody ever again. He paid for that mistake, too, when Chiaki and Raiden grabbed him on his way home after class.

"You think that because you outrank us, you get to boss us around?" Raiden snarled, seizing him by the front of his uniform while Chiaki held back his arms in a tight grip. Ren blinked at them, not even struggling to get break free. He knew he deserved this and just wanted to get this over with so he could return home and take another beating from his father. "Well? Say something," Raiden demanded, shaking Ren.

"What's the point?" Ren asked defiantly with a sigh. "You two will still be angry no matter what I say."

"So you do think you're better than us," Chiaki concluded.

"Now you're just putting words in my mouth," Ren replied, glancing over his shoulder to look at him.

"Let's see how you like it when I put my fist in your mouth!" Raiden snapped and hit him square in the jaw. Ren would have fallen back and to the ground from the force of it if Chaiki hadn't been holding him up.

Raiden was reeling his fist back to hit Ren once more until a voice suddenly shouted, "Hey! That's enough!" and there was an unfamiliar girl running towards them with an angry look in her eyes. Chiaki let go of Ren, pushing him to the ground and promptly left with Raiden before they could get reported to any of the Senseis still on campus.

"Hey, are you alright?" she asked, reaching for Ren's arm to help him to his feet.

"I'm fine!" he said hotly, recoiling from her touch. "I don't need you to fight my battles for me."

"Fight your battles? Ha! It looked like you had just given up!" she remarked with a scoff.

"Just go away," Ren snapped, glaring at her as he gingerly touched his swelling jaw. He could taste blood in his mouth and was quite thankful that Raiden hadn't managed to knock out any of his teeth.

"Looks like he got you pretty good," she commented, sitting down into the dirt next to him and very forwardly tilting his face towards her. Ren flinched and pulled back, though not because of her clear lack of boundaries (really, what kind of proper girl does that?), but from the sudden soothing glow that was starting to emit from her fingers. Impatiently, she clicked her tongue and grasped his face with more force. "Stay still!" she chided. "Have you never healing kidō before?"

"No," he answered quietly, resisting the urge to squirm. He tried to look anywhere but at her, but found that his eyes kept drifting back to her. She seemed to be more than content to do whatever she liked, and obviously had no qualms over what he thought of her.

"There, done," she said, finally letting him go and inspecting her work. "Does it feel better now?"

He nodded slowly, reaching up to touch his face to feel if the swelling had really gone down. "Thank you..." he said quietly, hesitantly accepting her hand.

"You're welcome," she answered with a kind smile as she pulled him to his feet. "Try to stay out of fights, alright? They're not good for your reputation, especially since you're still a first year." Now that he was standing face to face with her, he could see that she was just a little bit taller than him and it was obvious that she was older, more mature, and the way she spoke to him made him feel like a child.

"Your name?" he asked quietly.

"It doesn't matter," she responded with a shrug. "I doubt we'd meet each other again so just stay out of trouble, okay?"

And then she was gone, leaving Ren with an odd first impression as he wondered if he really was never going to see her again. He never bothered to look for her since he knew it would be impossible if they were in different years and he had other things to worry about like his relationship with his new fiancée, Hisana. Ren was hardly thrilled about this considering he hardly knew a thing about her, but it was an arranged marriage and his emotions shouldn't have mattered anyways. Still, he couldn't help but to wonder why marriages of convenience were hardly convenient for him.

To make matters worse, his teammate, Asahi Byakuya, seemed to have feelings for Hisana and to top it off, he even outranked Ren, resulting in him being severely criticized and punished for being number two. During finals, Ren was determined to do better than Byakuya and reclaim his rightful place as number one. When Mikado-sensei handed Ren the box filled with names of his upperclassmen, Ren blindly dug around a grabbed a slip. "Ibara Mio-senpai?" he read out, scanning the crowd for his opponent and froze when _that girl_ met his gaze. "You," he said.

"Me," she answered agreeably with an equally surprised look. "Have you been keeping yourself out of trouble?" she asked teasingly.

"More or less," he responded. "I'm Andou Ren," he said, finally introducing himself.

"Ibara Mio," she replied. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again. What luck!"

Before Ren could agree, he was interrupted by a loud squeal and both he and Mio watched in horror as Noriyuki was pinned to the floor and held in a tight headlock by his opponent. Mio snorted, unable to contain her laughter at the sight. "Is she number one in your class?" Ren asked, hoping that she wouldn't meet the same disgrace and humiliation at Mio's hands.

"No, but she is in the top ten," Mio said lightly, seeing the worried look on her kouhai's face.

"What's your rank then?"

"Oh, I'm number three," and she swore that Ren went pale upon hearing that. "What's your rank, Andou-kun?"

"Number two..."

"Eh? What are you worrying about then?" Mio replied encouragingly. "You'll do fine! And besides, Mikado-sensei isn't grading on victories, but technique!" Her words did little to calm his nerves and when was is their turn, Mio doesn't hold back and of course, he doesn't stand a chance. She was much too fast for him to keep up with and after disarming him, she knocked him off his feet in seconds. Mikado-sensei ended their match when her blade gently pressed against Ren's throat and she backed off immediately, sheathing her sword in one smooth motion. Afterwards, she sat with Ren, watching the other students spar. Seeing that he was far too humiliated to speak, she quietly commented, "I'm sorry, should I have gone easier on you? Personally, I think you did well."

"No," Ren answered immediately with a frown. "In a real life situation, no hollow would have gone easy on me. Losing is death."

"Hey, Andou-kun, it's just practice! There's no need to be so hard on yourself," she said with surprise.

"Practice or not, I have to reflect deeply when I lose," Ren answered seriously. "Shinigami have the responsibility to not die so easily, and I can't even do that."

"You're so narrow-minded!" Mio chided, flicking him in the forehead. Startled, Ren snapped out of his serious mood and stared at her with a bewildered look. "You should be happy when you're praised, whether you win or lose! And don't you know that we learn from our losses and mistakes? How do you expect to improve if you're always too focused on trying to win? Shinigami don't fight for victory!"

"Yeah," he stammered, still astounded that she was lecturing him like this. Everything she had said made so much sense, yet it went everything his father drilled into him. "Ibara-senpai, if we don't fight to win, then what are we fighting for?"

Mio stared at him with a frown. "Ren-kun, if you don't know the answer to that, why are you even becoming a Shinigami?"

"It's expected of me," he answered honestly, surprised at himself that he could even open up to her like this.

"Ah, so you come from one of those families," she murmured. Seeing his puzzled look, she waved it off. "Forget that. It's not a bad thing, Andou-kun. You're just naïve still. You'll learn what you're fighting for and what you're upholding when you join the elite class."

"You're not going to tell me?" he asked.

Mio shook her head. "No, I'll let Mikado-sensei do that."

The two of them continued to make small talk until Mikado-sensei dismissed the class and she left Ren with a reminder to be good and stay out of trouble."I'm not a kid," he answered her when she tousled his hair.

Mio laughed at his statement. "Sure you are and I'm going to keep treating you like one until you prove me wrong!" She really didn't seem to care about being formal with him and Ren found that he actually liked it that way.

Ren scoffed, thinking his senpai to be more childish that he was, but his thoughts were soon cut short by the sight of Byakuya and Hisana getting extremely close. It annoyed him more than it should have and he wanted to put an end to it before anything could happen. After class, he confronted Byakuya and made him lose his temper which led to the two of them going at it on the dojo floor until Mikado-sensei angrily broke them up.

And as Ren knelt there, head to the floor, he realized that he had let his emotions get the better of him again and he really was still just a naïve child. If Mio were around, she would have been disappointed in him for sure, and he chided himself for being interested in another woman when he already had a fiancée. Instead of trying to chase after Mio, he knew he should be getting to know Hisana better and strengthening the forced relationship between them.

That summer was a blur and Ren thought he had made progress with Hisana until he heard from Chiaki and Raiden that they saw her kissing Byakuya on their first day back. It hurt a lot more than he had expected it to, and deep down, he knew that Hisana would never see him that way and he thought himself to be so pathetic that he couldn't even hold the attention of his arranged fiancée. Ren made plans of confronting Hisana about it and even thought about going as far as breaking off his engagement with her. Before he could put any of those plans to motion, he had been nearly fatally injured on a teambuilding exercise and when Hisana cried and held his hand, he felt a little bit at peace to know that though she didn't love him, she did care for him. Out of fear, he confessed his love for her, thinking that maybe she'd stay with him out of obligation for the current situation, but he could see it in her eyes that she was lying to spare his feelings. Ren decided right there that if he survived, he would dissolve their engagement and that the only relationship between him and her would be friendship.

And he did just that when he awoke in the hospital and confirmed for himself that Hisana was really in love with Byakuya. His father had been angry, no doubt, but Ren honestly couldn't care less about what his father thought anymore. Confined to his room, Ren grew anxious and impatient, unable to sit still and decided that he would get a head start on his physical rehabilitation. Upon leaving his room, he had collided with Mio of all people.

"Andou-kun!" she exclaimed, grabbing him by the shoulders to keep him steady and upright. "Oh my goodness, are you alright?" she asked as she began to fuss over him. She hadn't changed at all and for that, he was glad.

"I'm fine," he answered, taking her hands off of him as he leaned against the doorframe for support. "What are you doing here?"

"One of my friends fell down the stairs and I heard you got injured so I figured I owe it my kouhai to stop by at least once," Mio said frankly. "Why is it that every time I see you, you're always getting yourself into trouble?

"It's just a scratch," Ren answered with a grimace as he downplayed his injuries, "and I guess I just don't know how to take care of myself very well," he answered.

"Then learn!" she admonished as she knocked him in the forehead. "All this worrying is bad for my heart, you know."

"I'll try," Ren laughed. "But I'm not a child, so you don't have to worry!"

"I worry because you're a kid," Mio sighed. ""I'm just going to tell you the same thing: be more careful, alright? I can't always look out for you," she said and turned away to leave, mumbling something about how her friend needed her.

"Senpai, wait," Ren said abruptly and grabbed her wrist. Shocked at his forwardness, he quickly let go and dropped his hand back to his side and looked away from her to hide the blush creeping on his cheeks. "Er, when I get discharged from here, do you think you'd want to meet up for coffee sometime?" he asked hopefully. Hisana was gone and he needed to move on. Mio, who was always out of reach, seemed like a good place to start, and right now, he didn't want to lose her again and have to wait for their next chance meeting.

Mio looked at him with initial hesitance and then brushed it away with a smile. "Sure," she said and handed her phone to him so he could program his number in. "How about this, I'll come pick you up the day they let you out, deal?"

"Deal," Ren answered, suddenly feeling really happy over such a simple and trivial promise.

"Now get back into bed!" she exclaimed. "You probably shouldn't even be standing!" She fussed over her kouhai until he was unwillingly sitting back down in the cot. She noticed the stack of textbooks he had on his table and asked, "Have you been studying the whole time you've been here?"

"Yeah, I can't afford to fall behind," he explained. "I'm really hoping that I'm not going to have to repeat a year."

"That's not _all_ that you've been doing while you've been here, is it?" she asked with concern.

"I can't really practice anything for my performance classes if that's what you're asking," Ren replied.

"Doesn't it get awfully boring?"

"Do I look like I have anything else to do here?" Ren asked as he looked around his bare hospital room.

Mio looked at him with surprise at the sudden realization that he was probably always alone. Despite his quick recovery, he was still being kept in the hospital for fear of complications. She recalled that he had a sister, but most likely, she and the rest of his friends were still attending classes and didn't have as much time to visit him. "I guess not..." she answered quietly.

Ren was pleasantly surprised when Mio returned for him the next day, bringing with her a square-shaped gift. "You brought me paper?" he asked with a puzzled expression when he opened it.

"Mhmm," Mio hummed as she finished opening it for him and handed him a crisp sheet. "You seemed a bit lonely yesterday so I thought I would visit you and keep you company when your friends can't. And plus, you need a break from all that studying so I brought you some paper so you can fold cranes in your spare time." Her deft fingers were already at work as she spoke and she handed him a perfect crane when she was finished. "There, now you have one."

"One?" Ren repeated as he admired the paper bird. "Am I supposed to be making a set number?"

"One thousand?" she answered and then laughed at his baffled look. "Don't tell me you've never heard of the myth!" Seeing his blank expression, she continued, "They say that if you fold a thousand paper cranes, the Gods will grant you a wish."

"You don't really believe that, do you?" he asked, looking apprehensive.

"No, of course not, but it's a nice gesture, don't you think?" she asked.

"I guess," he answered, finding it to be an awfully childish gesture. He then stared at his sheet of paper, wondering how on earth he could turn that into a bird. Mio spent the rest of her visit teaching Ren how to fold cranes and by the time she had left, they had at least thirty finished, though his half hardly even resembled anything bird-shaped. Mio promised that the next time she stopped by she would bring him more paper as well as some string to hang up their birds since his hospital room seemed a bit dreary and gloomy.

Ren began looking forward to his senpai's visits. She always seemed to brighten up that dreadful room and when he was with her, he could forget about his near-fatal accident, his broken engagement and anything else that was troubling him. As he got to know her better, he realized that he might have been falling in love with her, but to his dismay, it seemed that Mio still saw him as a naïve child and he couldn't seem to convince her otherwise. Natsumi noticed the change in demeanor, and realized it was because of Mio when she met her for the first time. However, his sister's smile faded the second Mio had left.

"What are you doing with her, Ren?" Natsumi prompted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he answered defensively.

Natsumi looked at him with a sad look and shook her head. "Don't make her your rebound, Ren, please. You're only going to hurt yourself even more!"

"She's not a rebound!" Ren answered angrily.

"You loved Hisana-chan! You just broke off your engagement with her so forgive me for being so skeptical of you moving on so fast!" Natsumi protested. "I know she hurt you, but hurting Ibara-chan isn't going to make things any better."

"Mind your own business, Natsumi," Ren chided.

"Don't pursue her like this!" she pleaded, refusing to submit.

"Natsumi, you don't have to worry," he finally sighed, voice faltering. "She doesn't even see me that way. I'm just a kid in her eyes. That's practically a rejection already, isn't it? When I'm with her, I don't have to worry about anything else anymore. She makes me feel safe. Am I supposed to feel that way for a rebound?"

"I think after everything you've gone through, it's only natural you'd feel safe with someone as kind and nurturing as she is," Natsumi advised. "I just don't want to see you get hurt anymore..."

"Stop it," Ren said, defeated. "I have enough people worrying over me already and I've been told worrying is bad for your heart."

On the day that Ren was discharged from the hospital, Mio was there to pick him up and they went out to coffee as promised. As they walked to her preferred café, she happily talked about her friends and classes and how she was so excited to join the Gotei 13 after her graduation. Ren in turn talked about his own friends and how he was glad to return to Shinô. He even voiced his fear of having to repeat a year from missing too much. Mio assured him that the worst that could happen was that he'd need to take summer supplementary classes to catch up, and no matter the outcome, she would be there to help him study and catch up.

Taking a deep breath, Ren hesitantly reached for Mio's hand and interlaced his fingers with hers. "Am I walking too fast for you, Ren-kun?" Mio asked, oblivious to the meaning behind the gesture. "I'm sorry! You've had such a great recovery that I forgot!"

"Yeah, if would just slow down the pace a little..." Ren answered, defeated, as he inwardly considered himself pathetic for his failed attempt to convey his growing feelings for her. Perhaps he should have been more frank, thought that was already so uncharacteristic of him. He wasn't used to showing his emotions for anybody and he was most certainly not used to being part of a one-sided love. In the middle of his self-wallowing, Ren then suddenly realized that Mio hadn't let go of his hand.

"I have a confession to make," Mio said quietly in between sips of hot coffee after they finally settled down in a little café. "I might have overheard what you and your sister were talking about before I spoke to you. You have a fiancée, don't you?" I can't help but to wonder where she is right now..."

"Ex-fiancée," he corrected with a sad look. "We broke up."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that," Mio said sincerely.

"It's not a big deal. It was supposed to be a marriage of convenience, and we're still friends. It's not like I had feelings for her anyways," Ren said, trying to convince her and himself that it was nothing.

"You don't have to lie to me," Mio said. "You can talk to me about it if you want, Ren-kun."

"I don't need to; I'm moving on," he answered, looking her in the eyes. Seeing the shy blush on her cheeks, he knew he'd have to be frank with her. "I like you, Mio-senpai," he said, taking her hand into his.

Mio stared at him, wide-eyed with surprise. She wasn't that dense and had realized his growing affection for her, but it had all been a thought and now that he had actually put his feelings into words, it all became so much real. She couldn't help but to let out a small laugh, much to Ren's dismay. "No, don't be offended, please!" she pleaded, calming down. "See, I've never been confessed to before, and well, I always thought of you like a brother."

"Brother?!" Ren repeated with a horrified look. "That's even worse than being seen as a child!"

"Ren-kun, no!" Mio exclaimed, blushing furiously. "I think 'brother' might have been the wrong word. You're my kouhai."

"Just because I'm your kouhai, doesn't mean I'm a child," he insisted, still trying to get her to realize that he wasn't a brat.

"Ha, prove it! You're always getting yourself into—Mm!"

Ren, deciding to be bold, leaned forward and interrupted her with a kiss. "Am I still a kid now?" he asked when they broke apart.

"Well... I certainly don't see you as brother anymore," Mio laughed, flushing adorably. "But I can't date you, Ren. I'm supposed to be graduating soon to work as a full-time Shinigami and you're still in school! We won't have time for each other."

"I'd make time for you," he protested. "I could work my schedule around yours."

"That wouldn't be very fair, though," she pointed out with a bothered look.

"Don't you think we should at least try?" he nearly pleaded.

"Aren't you listening to me?" she asked, surprised by how persistent he was.

"You didn't reject me yet..." Ren answered quietly. "You didn't say 'no.'" Mio blinked at him in surprise at the realization that she had just been making excuses. "You're still enrolled at Shinô right now," Ren said, taking her hand into his again. "It'll be easy right now and after you graduate, you'll realize that it'll be just as easy." He pressed his lips to the back of her hand. "I like you, Mio-senpai. Please go out with me."

She bit her lip nervously, worried over how vulnerable this boy could make her feel. "Alright. Please take care of me then."

When Ren returned to Shinô, he was pleasantly welcomed back by his pretty girlfriend and they always made it a point to meet before class, during their lunch breaks, and after the school day. Ren was quite pleased to see that she fit in well with his group of friends, as was Mio to see that he fit well among hers. Ren was even more pleased to know that Mio and Natsumi got along well, and Natsumi finally accepted that he wasn't using Mio to forget about Hisana. And for a while, things were going great.

"I can't walk you home with you today," Mio told Ren over the phone after class.

"Do you have to stay late again?" he asked, wandering around in hopes that he'd be able to see her before leaving.

"Yeah, my team and I have a makeup evaluation since we did poorly on the last exercise," she explained with a frustrated sigh.

"Do you want me to wait for you?" Ren offered.

"No, I don't know how long it will take," she said sadly. "But I can call you when I'm done and maybe we can see each other then."

"Yeah, I'd really like that," he grinned. Mio's voice faded into the background when Ren saw Hisana trying to balance a stack of textbooks in her arms. "Mi-chan, I have to go, sorry. Something important just came up," he said quickly, and put his phone away. "Hisana-san, are you alright?"

"Hi, Ren-kun," she answered cheerfully. "I'm fine, thanks for asking. How are you?"

"I'm doing okay. I meant do you need help with that?" he laughed.

"Ah, no, I'm fine, really," Hisana said. "Besides, I don't want to be a bother."

"No, you're never a bother!" Ren assured her, taking the load of books off her hands. "Not doing anything anyways. So where to?"

"I'm actually going home to study and read all of these," Hisana replied. "Are you sure you have the time to help out?"

"You know I'm always around to help," Ren grinned sweetly. "But really, I'm free until later and this isn't going to take long at all."

Later that night, Mio never called him and she didn't answer any of his phone calls or messages. Confused on why he had been stood up, Ren worried if something happened to her. He scolded himself for being a clingy boyfriend and simply concluded that she must have been exhausted from her study group.

"Mi-chan!" he greeted the next morning when he saw her. "I guess yesterday must have really wore you out."

"Not really," she answered in a clipped tone, refusing to look at him.

"Did you forget to call me then?" he asked with a confused look.

"You didn't hang up," Mio stated with a hurt look and it took him a moment to realize what she's talking about.

He can practically feel the blood drain from his face as he stammered, "Mio, it's not what you think..."

Mio stared at him with disbelief. "And what do I think, Ren?"

"Uh," he mumbled, feeling cornered and trapped like a complete idiot. "You think I blew you off for another girl..."

"And just how far off am I?" she inquired.

"I'm sorry," Ren said instead. "Please forgive me."

"Just go away, Ren," Mio said, defeated. "It's obvious you're still pining over your ex and I'm not going to stay with somebody who has eyes for another girl. You really are just a child."

"You're breaking up with me over this?" Ren asked with a horrified look. "Mio, please, no! She's just a friend and I don't even have feelings for her!"

"If that was true, you wouldn't have lied!" Mio snapped, eyes glassy. She turned away from him, refusing to let him see that he has hurt her. "Go away, Ren."

"Don't do this," Ren pleaded, taking her arm. "I can get over her by being with you."

Mio turned around, bewildered, as she yanked her arm away from his grasp. "Excuse me?!" she demands vehemently. "So you've been _using_ me this whole time."

"Mio, that came out wrong!" Ren babbled, knowing that he has just dug his own grave. The last thing Ren remembered is Mio's fist going for his face and then everything goes black. When he came to, he realized he was in Shinô's infirmary and there is a constant ringing in his ears. He attempted to sit up but fell back with a groan as his head started to pound terribly, giving him a massive migraine. He wondered through clouded thoughts if Mio managed to give him a concussion.

"Oh, you're finally awake." Ren rolled over on the cot towards the direction of the voice and let out a defeated sigh at the sight of the smug look on Natsumi's face. "Mi-chan didn't hold back, did she?" she commented, keeping her voice low for her brother's sake.

"How long have I been out?" he asked slowly.

"You missed your first three classes already and we're already halfway into the fourth."

"I've been out cold for the last five hours?" Ren asked incredulously. "Where is Mio?"

"She's gone home already. I don't know what you said, but I have _never_ seen her this angry before," Natsumi said with frown. "She told me to tell you that you're lucky that Hakuda's not her strong suit and that the next time you approach her, it'll be her sword in your face, and not her fist."

"Do you know which technique?" Ren asked for the sake of curiosity.

"_Ikkotsu_," Natsumi snorted. "Worried about your face now?"

"No," Ren answered honestly. Looks have always been trivial to him. "What happened exactly? After she knocked me unconscious?"

"She called me to take you to the infirmary," Natsumi told him as she handed him a mirror.

He slowly sat up and accepted it to survey the damage Mio has done. It seemed that the whole left side of his face was swollen and the dark blood bruise was still spreading. "Ow," he muttered, gingerly touching his black eye. "The nurse didn't fix this up?"

"I told her not to," Natsumi replied. "You deserve to be in a little bit of pain for what you did!" she said accusingly

"I know..." Ren muttered, lying back down.

"I _told_ you not to do this to her!" Natsumi shouted accusingly. "I told you that you would only hurt yourself in the end."

"I know!" he answered. "I deserve this. I messed up, and I don't know what to do. I just know that I want Mio back."

"Then get her back, idiot!" Natsumi sighed. "I know she's more to you than some rebound, so I don't understand why you would have said that!"

"I've been trying so hard to convince myself that I never loved Hisana, that I don't know what love is," he admitted. "When Mio yells at me, I can't think straight and all I want to do is try to make her feel better. I guess I just lost control over my brain-mouth coordination..."

"Give her some time," Natsumi instructed. "Right now, if you tried to win her back, she'd only try to lop off your head, so back off and win her back with some large romantic gesture."

Ren sat up suddenly at that suggestion. "I know just the thing."

He waited three months before searching her out again. It was the end of his second year, and for Mio, it would be the end of her Shinô career since she was one of those skilled enough to graduate early after her fourth year. Ren went to her graduation ceremony, determined and ready to win her back. He had stayed up all night with Natsumi, trying to finish folding all one thousand cranes and despite his exhaustion, he forced himself to stay awake and search for Mio in the crowd. He caught sight of her with her friends, fussing over their new Shinigami uniforms.

Taking a deep breath, Ren pushed his way through the crowd to approach her. "Mi-chan," he called out softly and she looked at him with surprise. "Can we talk?" he asked hesitantly.

She frowned at him, but excused herself from her friends so they could speak in private. "What do you want?" she responded, confused on why he had shown up here of all places, especially considering on how they had parted on bad terms.

"I had to give you this," he answered, digging into his pocket for a flat crane. He brought it to its 3D glory by pulling out its wings and handed it to her.

"You've improved," she commented, noting the bird's sharp and flawless creases. "Ren, what are you doing?"

"That was my thousandth crane," Ren stated. "I've been making cranes since we broke up for you. I'm supposed to get a wish now, right?"

"Yeah, that's how the story generally goes," she answered in a clipped tone as she looks down at the crane, unable to meet his eyes.

"Then I wish that I can have a second chance with Mi-chan."

Mio snapped her head up in shock. "You sure you want to waste your wish on me?" she asked bitterly, unable to believe what had just come out of his mouth. "Shouldn't you be wishing to be with Kuchiki-san?"

Ren flinched at this, but he knew that Mio was just defending herself with these cruel words. "You were never a rebound," he said, spitting out the last word vehemently. "Mio, believe me, I am _not_ in love with Hisana-san. I don't think I ever was."

"Ren, you don't need to explain yourself to me," Mio chided and turned away, not wanting anything to do with him.

"Listen to me!" Ren snapped, grabbing her wrist and pulling her back to him. "My feelings for you are sincere. They're real, I promise. What I felt for Hisana-san was not love. She and I are just friends. That's all we ever were."

"How can you say that?" Mio demanded as she pushed against his chest to get him to let go of her. "You were that girl's fiancé for two years. You had to have loved her at one point!"

Ren refused and tightened his arms around her in response. "It was actually one and a half years and it was a marriage of convenience. And it wasn't love."

"You're so full of it," Mio snarled, as she finally decided to use force to get him to let go of her. She punched him hard in the stomach and stepped away from him as he practically keeled over from loss of breath. "I'm not mad at you because you loved her. I'm mad at you because you had the audacity to _lie_ to me about it and use me as your rebound girl to get over her. And now I'm even madder that you think of me as some stupid, shallow little girl who can't handle the truth."

"It wasn't love," he still insisted despite getting the air knocked out of him. "I never knew what love really was. My father taught me that those kinds of emotions were a weakness and when he announced that I had to marry a girl I've never met, I knew I wouldn't be happy. So I lied to myself and tried to convince myself that I could love her to make my life easier. And then when Byakuya-san had real feelings for her, I got jealous and competed with him for her affections because I didn't want to lose to him! All of it was just a stupid competition between me and him. That's not love is supposed to be."

"And now you think you know what it is?" Mio huffed as she handed him back the paper crane. Somehow, it managed to stay in one piece and not get crushed in their brief scuffle.

Ren nodded slowly but refused to take back the crane. "It's getting coffee and folding paper cranes on boring afternoons. It's being with you. I'm in love with you, Mio, and I came here today to tell you that and win you back."

"This isn't going to work," Mio said stubbornly. "I just graduated and you're still in school. We won't have time for each other."

"We'll make it work," Ren pleaded. "We can meet up whenever you don't have a shift. You'll get to tell me all about your work and then you can help me study so I can graduate earlier, too, and be with you for good."

"It's not that easy, Ren! Aren't you listening to me?" Mio protested.

"I am listening, and I hear everything you're saying, but you know what I don't hear? A rejection. You haven't rejected me yet," he pointed out hopefully.

Mio stared at him, speechless. It was like the time he asked her out all over again. "I'm not going to be your rebound," she told him as one last reluctant resistance.

"That's alright. I want you as my girlfriend anyways," he grinned.

That's all he needed to say and Mio threw her arms around him and kissed him. Ren squeezed her tightly to him in response, kissing her back fervently, and when they break apart, gasping for breath, Mio simply remarked, "I love you." She then paused, staring up at him and then asked, "Are you taller than me now?"

"I guess I am," he laughed. "About time, too! It's kind of weird having your girlfriend be taller than you."

"You're still such a child," she laughed.

"I'm never going to convince you that I'm anything but that, am I?" Ren asked with disbelief. "That's fine then; that just means you're still going to keep worrying about me, right?"

Mio nodded slowly, "You know I'm always going to worry for you."

"Well, I'm going to be worrying for you, too, now," he said, remembering that she was going to serve as a Shinigami now. "I'm going to apply to be in the same division that you'll be in, so keep waiting for me, alright? I'll graduate early, too, so I can be at your side as fast as I can."

"You're telling _me_ to be careful?" she asked incredulously. "Who's going to look after you now that I'm not attending Shinô anymore? You better not get into anymore fights!"

"I won't!" he assured her. "I'll be good, because I'm not a kid anymore!"

"Prove it," Mio sighed, giving him the same challenging response every time he tried to prove her wrong.

Ren grinned and then stole another kiss from her. "I'm working on it."


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach!**

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><p>Byakuya had no qualms over changing classes in the middle of the semester but what did bother him was that Noriyuki would not be at his side for the first time in a long while. Sure, he and Noriyuki weren't <em>always<em> joined at the hip, but the thought of having to brave something new without his brother there unsettled him. Even worse, he was not given the familiarity of having Mikado-sensei again and was handed over to a new teacher completely. Saito-sensei was completely different from Mikado and did not have much faith in teams. He believed that each soldier must learn to fend for himself and it was only the strongest that would survive. He was a rude and gruff man and didn't seem to care if a student was struggling to keep up. It truly was a survival of the fittest class.

"I heard you were number one in your year, Asahi," Saito-sensei said when Byakuya cordially introduced himself before class.

"Yes, sir, that's true," Byakuya answered with a nod.

"Don't let it get to your head!" Saito-sensei snapped with what seemed to be a disgusted tone. "You all think you're so smart and talented when you first transfer in, but let me tell you this, the last boy who transferred made that same claim and he dropped out after a month! You're nothing special, boy, no matter what that idiot Mikado says. There are always others who are far more talented than you are."

"Yes, sir...?" Byakuya replied, surprised by the sudden lecture.

Saito-sensei squinted at him, looking him over as if he was trying to guess how long he would last and then shouted, "Oi, Souji, come here."

A tall brunet hurried over immediately with a nervous look on his face. "Yes, Saito-sensei?"

"This is your new kouhai. Help him get situated and then drop him," he ordered gruffly and left the two to prepare for class.

"Ohayo, I'm Kougami Souji," he introduced with a friendly smile as he offered his hand.

"I'm Asahi Byakuya. Please take care of me," he answered formally as he shook his new senpai's hand.

"Feel free to ask me anything, Byakuya-kun!" Souji grinned. "I've had Saito-sensei since my first year so I know all that there is to him. And feel free to call me Souji-senpai if you'd like."

"'Kougami-senpai' is fine," Byakuya stated, unsure if he liked how Souji was already so familiar with him.

"Alright, if you insist," his senpai answered happily. "It's a shame you had Mikado-sensei for your first year. He doesn't prepare you for the Shinigami life nearly as well as Saito-sensei does."

"I thought Mikado-sensei was a decent teacher," Byakuya asserted defensively.

"Hm, maybe, but it's always his students that are the ones to drop out," Souji laughed. "Most of here have had Saito-sensei since our first year. We're used to his teaching methods and are able to keep up. We're truly the elite ones compared to Mikado-sensei's class. Either way, I wish you the best of luck."

"Thanks..." Byakua replied, unsure if he liked how Souji put down his old Sensei. If anything, it seemed that Souji looked up to Saito-sensei to the point of worship.

Souji happily talked about Saito-sensei's greatness as the rest of the students poured into the dojo, and of all the people that were in Saito's class, the one face that Byakuya hadn't been expecting to see was Takano Kyouya's, his senpai from Mikado's elite class whom he had to spar with for his first year's final exam. Kyouya looked equally surprised to see Byakuya and then frowned at Souji.

"You know him, Byakuya-kun?" Souji asked lazily with a yawn.

"He's an acquaintance," he explained.

"Oh, so you and Kyou-kun aren't really friends," his senpai concluded with a confused look. "Too bad for him then. I'm sure he would have been thrilled to be able to befriend another transfer. It would make his life a lot less lonely!"

'Lonely?' Byakuya thought as he glanced over in Kyouya's direction. He was sitting alone, reading, and neither him nor any of the other students bothered to make small talk. Perhaps it was because of the lack of teams that made Kyouya even more antisocial, but Byakuya thought he would have attempted to make at least one friend in the class.

"Kyou-kun has such a bad attitude, too," Souji commented. "For a guy who came from Mikado's class, he doesn't even seem to be much of a team player. Believe me, we tried to befriend him, but he's just so disagreeable!"

Minus the team exercises, Saito's class really wasn't that much different from Mikado's. He introduced a new Zanjutsu technique at the beginning of class, and then required the students to practice and spar with one another to master this new technique. Saito would keep to himself and walk around the dojo, observing each student and would criticize them if they were doing something wrong or give a small nod if they were on the right track.

"Be sure to practice outside of class," Souji told Byakuya. "At the end of each week, Saito-sensei will grade us all on our mastery of this technique. We will have to spar with one another in order to demonstrate the technique!" Byakuya nodded, and wondered how he was going to have time to practice when he'd have to juggle classes and shifts at the Sixth Division. "Byakuya-kun, are you left handed?" Souji asked suddenly.

"No, why?" Byakuya answered, confused.

"Something about your right seems a bit off," he commented with a confused look. "You look kind of stiff."

"Oh, it's an old injury," he said. Even though his arm had recovered from that hollow battle, there was still a lingering pain. The bones had been shattered after all, and Byakuya knew that even though it had mostly healed, it would take a little bit of time to use it at its full capacity.

"What's this? You already have your own war stories?" Souji teased. "You'll have to tell me another time then!"

After Saito dismissed class, Souji said his good-byes and left quickly, explaining that he needed to hurry and copy someone's Kidō homework before the next class could start. Kyouya used this moment to clear his throat and approach Byakuya. "You moved up a class," he stated. "I didn't realize you were that talented." Byakuya felt a sudden pang of guilt at his words when he realized that he hadn't moved up because of his skills. Seeing the look on his face, Kyouya quietly mumbled, "Oh, so the Kuchikis really did pull strings for you. How fortunate for you."

"How do you even know about that?" Byakuya asked, feeling quite exposed.

"Word travels around fast, especially when you're attempting to court a noble," Kyouya answered dryly. "Normally, I don't really care for gossip, but I'm curious as to why the Kuchikis would help someone from Rukongai. Anyways, that's not what I wanted to speak to you about. What were you doing with Kougami?"

"Saito-sensei instructed him to look after me," Byakuya answered, caught-off guard by Kyouya's interest. His senpai had just affirmed that he was one to mind his business and keep to himself, yet he was doing the exact opposite by asking about Souji.

"Don't trust Kougami. He's a rat," Kyouya said quietly. "I'm sure you've already realized this, but Saito-sensei's nothing like Mikado-sensei."

"It doesn't seem to be that different," Byakuya replied, wondering what Souji had to do with all this. "Is that it? I need to get going."

"Oi, I'm serious. Don't take Kougami lightly," Kyouya snapped. Seeing that Byakuya was hardly convinced, he shook his head and stormed off. "Heed my warning if you know what's best!"

During the next class, Byakuya did take Kyouya's warning into consideration and attempted to distance himself from Souji. His senpai saw right through him and only stated, "You talked to Kyou-kun."

"I did," Byakuya affirmed, not bothering to lie to spare his feelings.

"And he told you bad things about me?" Souji asked.

"From what I know, Takano-senpai says bad things about everyone," Byakuya answered, trying to stay neutral in this. There was obviously some bad blood between the two and the last thing he wanted was to get involved. And besides, this kind of drama was supposed to be between girls! His rivalry with Ren was hardly this bad.

"I believe that Kyou-kun's just upset that he's not number one anymore. He's probably gunning for you to fail, too!" Souji replied.

"Who's ranked one in the class?" Byakuya asked curiously.

"Saito-sensei doesn't do rankings. Now before you wonder about how he gets around the mandatory ranking system, he knows it's required of him. He just doesn't submit it until the last minute so we never know where we stand," Souji explained. "Kyou-kun... didn't place well the last time rankings were released. He must be sour about it."

"Why does he blame you then?" Byakuya questioned.

"Cause I'm the only one who tried to help get adjusted to this class. He probably thinks I sabotaged him!" Souji scoffed. "I gave him all the tips I gave you. It's not my fault that he didn't take me seriously and fell behind!"

Like Souji said, at the end of the week, Saito-sensei began his evaluations to assess each of his student's mastery over their blade. Souji was Byakuya's partner, of course, and he assured him that it was just friendly sparring and all he needed to do was to make sure he demonstrated his techniques flawlessly. Souji even volunteered for the two of them to be evaluated first and then instructed Byakuya to perform first.

"Don't overdo it, Souji," Saito muttered.

'What's _that_ supposed to mean?' Byakuya wondered with a frown as he tried to look past Souji's ever-present smile. Byakuya knew that he should just worry about it later, and focus on his techniques as he and Souji bowed their heads to each other.

The skill to be demonstrated was _Ryōdan_, a relatively simple two-handed strike that was meant to cleave an opponent in two. One had to charge his reiatsu into the blade in order to get that kind of sheer power. Byakuya closed his eyes, letting his blade fill with his energy and then lunged at Souji, intending to make his strike and then resume a defensive stance.

The moment before his blade hit Souji's, Byakuya caught sight of a small smirk and a dangerous glint flash in his eyes. Souji blocked the attack as expected, but what Byakuya hadn't been expecting was for Souji to counter right away. "_Hadō 1: Shō_!" he shouted, dispelling energy from his finger at Byakuya point blank. The spell hit him square in the chest with enough force to send him back a few feet. Before Byakuya could even question his senpai, Souji disappeared from sight and he barely followed his movements and managed to block an offensive blow. Souji relentlessly kept striking, forcing Byakuya to parry every one of his powerful blows.

"_Bakudō 81: Dank__ū!"_Byakuya shouted, jumping back and putting up a kidō barrier to block Souji's next Hadō spell. With a grin, Souji charged his blade, performing the _Ryōdan_ technique on Byakuya's barrier, and shattered it. Now that both of them had completed in demonstrating the technique, Byakuya thought the match was over, but Souji did not stop and Saito did not bother to call him off. Seeing an opening, Byakuya thrust his blade out, expecting his senpai to block and parry, but to his horror, he felt his blade sink into Souji's flesh.

"Kougami?!" Byakuya gaped. Surely Saito had to stop them now! Strangely though, none of the other students seemed remotely bothered by the fact that Byakuya had just stabbed their classmate.

"And now I have you right where I want you," Souji grinned as he grabbed hold of Byakuya's right arm, "_Hadō 54: Haien!"_ Souji blasted his spiritual energy right into Byakuya's arm, setting it on fire when it hit home.

Byakuya jerked free, biting his lip to suppress the searing pain as his skin was practically incinerated. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Byakuya shouted, quickly putting out the fire and grimacing at the sight and smell of charred flesh.

"Hm? Byakuya-kun couldn't tell? I thought it was quite obvious that I was trying to maim him!" Souji replied cheerfully with feigned innocence. Without even flinching, he pulled Byakuya's blade from his stomach and dropped it on the floor with a loud clatter. His hand glowed green as he healed the wound in a matter of seconds.

"I thought—"

"Hmmm? You thought we were friends? You though I was going to help you out? Is that it, Byakuya-kun?" Souji snickered. "He breeds you too soft in that other class," he added darkly. "Teammates are useless. Why should you have to share your success with them? They will only weigh you down in the end so it's best to drop them right away."

"There aren't any teams in this class," Byakuya protested, trying to make sense of what Souji was saying.

"That's true, and I'm thankful for that, but that doesn't change the fact that you're still competition," he explained. "You see, not everybody who graduated Shinô will get to serve in the company of their desire. In fact, some of them might not even get to serve. Do you know why, Byakuya-kun? It's because there's always somebody else who's better than you. So the only way to get what you really want is to eliminate them."

Byakuya stared at him, rendered speechless. He turned to Saito-sensei in hopes that their teacher would do something about Souji's murderous intents but to his dismay, Saito-sensei had already moved on to grading the next set of students. Souji began to laugh cruelly, and shook his head. "Saito-sensei won't come to your rescue. Don't you understand the meaning of 'the survival of the fittest'? If you can't handle bullying, Byakuya-kun, you have no business becoming a Shinigami."

"You have an odd definition of bullying," Byakuya growled. He had been bullied with Noriyuki his first year, but those nobles hadn't gone as far as trying to maim and murder them!

"Don't be such a girl," Souji quipped. "Are your feelings hurt because your senpai betrayed you? I'm teaching you a lesson, so you best remember it." He paused thoughtfully and then added, "You are my kouhai though. Do you need me to point you in the direction of the infirmary?"

"No, I can take myself," Byakuya forced out through gritted teeth as he turned away to leave for the infirmary.

"Are you alright?" Kyouya asked quietly, intercepting him at the door.

"Why do you care?" Byakuya replied defensively, pushing past him and angrily storming down the hall.

"...because he did the same thing to me when I first transferred in," Kyouya admitted as he followed him.

"You could have given me a warning," Byakuya said flatly.

"I _did_. You just didn't listen," he answered.

"That was hardly a warning!" Byakuya retorted. "If I recall correctly, you seemed to have left out the part where Kougami is a sadistic bastard!"

"I thought I made that obvious when I told you not to take him lightly?" he assumed. He seemed to be clueless at why Byakyua was losing his temper with him.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get through to his senpai, Byakuya inhaled sharply to cool down his temper and changed the subject to something else that was equally bothersome. "Takano-senpai, why is the whole class like that? Isn't there anyone who prefers Mikado-sensei's way of teaching over Saito-sensei's?"

"First, drop the 'senpai'; we're equals now," Kyouya started, "And the people who did oppose him aren't in the class anymore. They drop out right away."

"You're still enrolled," he pointed out.

"I'm determined to finish this course," Kyouya answered. "After this, I will consider transferring back under Mikado-sensei. It looks bad if you drop out without completion anyways. I'm guessing that the Kuchikis purposefully enrolled you under Saito-sensei to see if you could manage."

Byakuya grimaced at the realization that Sojun probably did attempt to sabotage him by doing this. "Seems about right now that you mention it..." he muttered. Arriving at the infirmary, Byakuya was hardly surprised to see that the nurse was absent and he began to riffle through for bandages and some kind of disinfectant.

"I heard that Saito-sensei likes to torture his freshmen by assigning them teams that first week like Mikado-sensei does, but he adds in one of his upperclassmen who pose as an innocent first year. He'll send them out on an exercise and then that upperclassman will betray and sabotage them," Kyouya explained.

"I bet Kougami-san loves to take part in that," Byakuya commented, wincing as he began to use kidō to stop the bleeding and fix up some of the burns.

"He says he likes to see the look of betrayal in their eyes," Kyouya snorted. "But it's brutal and true. Those freshmen won't be able to get over that feeling of betrayal and they won't believe in teams anymore. That's why hardly anybody opposes Saito-sensei because they know from experience that what he says is true."

"Do you believe what he says is true?" Byakuya hesitantly asked.

Kyouya thought over his answer carefully before answering. "I don't think he's completely right but there is some truth in his teachings. Kougami had it right though; you can't always depend on your teams. I had an idiot in my group who couldn't keep up and I had to cover his ass in so many exercises to save me and Ibara-san from failing. You must know what that's like so tell me, was it Kuchiki or Andou who held you back?"

"None of them," Byakuya answered hostilely. "We got along fine."

Kyouya seemed to be in disbelief that Byakuya could have gotten along with both of his teammates perfectly, but chose not to comment on it. "Do you want me to help?" he asked, seeing Byakuya struggle with an anti-burn cream and bandages.

Byakuya ignored him, determined to patch himself up on his own, but after failing to tie a knot for the fourth time, he begrudgingly held his arm out towards Kyouya who only smirked and assisted his kouhai. "Why are you being nice to me, anyways? You weren't exactly a nice person the last time we met."

"I didn't realize how important your teammates are until I transferred," Kyouya laughed. "Pretty stupid, huh? Besides, Kougami and the others will turn on your eventually and try to get you to drop out. The year will be a lot easier if we just stick together."

Byakuya, who never liked to give out his trust so easily, knew that Kyouya was probably right this time, and they probably would have to work together to survive.

After Shinô, Byakuya had tried to sort out his disheveled appearance so that Hisana wouldn't realize that something had gone wrong. She was sharp though and knew something was off the moment she met up with him. "What happened to your arm?" she asked, seeing the white bandages peeking out from his sleeve.

"Zanjutsu accident," Byakuya answered, downplaying his injuries. "Please don't worry about it." Hisana squinted at him and then abruptly hugged him. Pain shot through his body and caught off-guard, he let out a grunt of pain and peeled her off of him.

"I knew it! You're not alright!" Hisana accused, eyeing his chest. Before he could even stop her, she was already moving aside the fabric of his uniform so she could assess the damage done. "You have massive bruising under there! What happened today?!"

"Saito-sensei's students are a lot rougher than Mikado-sensei's. I was simply caught off guard by one of the upperclassmen," Byakuya assured, her, readjusting his uniform. "Hisana, worrying is bad for your heart, so please don't." The last thing he wanted to do was add to her list of troubles. "How was your day today?"

"It's different without you," Hisana admitted. "Ren-kun and I got a new teammate, too. She's nice, but she seems to be more interested in impressing Ren-kun, than Mikado-sensei. It's a bit irritating."

"I'm sure Andou-san appreciates the attention," Byakuya commented,

"No, he's actually agitated by her advances," Hisana clarified. "He says she keeps getting in his way and he thinks we'll end up having to pull her weight in order to complete team exercises in the future. More work for us than necessary," she pouted.

Byakuya thought of what Kyouya and Souji had said about that one teammate who would bring the team down with them, but Byakuya decided that even if that person was there, he would rather have a team than to be utterly alone. "I think you and Andou-san should help her catch up to you. It'd make everything a lot easier, don't you think?"

"Yes, you're right," Hisana agreed, thinking of how Byakuya and Ren always helped her. "Ren-kun would definitely be good motivation for her!"

The next week, during another one of Saito-sensei's evaluations, Byakuya was determined to prove and redeem himself. To Kyouya and Souji's surprise, Byakuya volunteered to go first, and declared Souji as his sparring partner.

"Are you looking for another beating, Byakuya-kun?" Souji asked curiously.

"Yes, for you," Byakuya countered.

Souji laughed at his kouhai's new found confidence and attitude. "You're just trying to prove yourself, aren't you? They all do that after that first week of humiliation."

"I'm doing to do much more than just that," Byakuya declared.

"You sure do talk big for someone who was brutally defeated just a week ago," Souji pointed out. "You stand no chance against me with Mikado's soft teachings."

"Teammates aren't worthless and they don't hold you back," Byakuya stated, refusing to back down.

"Are you going to give me a cliché 'power of friendship' speech?" Souji snorted.

"No, I'm just sick of listening to you put down my sensei all the time. He wasn't wrong," he asserted, swinging his blade down against Souji's.

Souji parried, recognizing it as last week's _Ryōdan_ technique, but suddenly frowned when his body suddenly wasn't responding. "Tch! What did you do to me?" he demanded, trying to snap his body out of its stunned state.

"You learn things from your teammates that you wouldn't normally learn if you were always alone," Byakuya stated. "That was my idiot rival—no, my idiot _friend's_ favorite technique."

"Don't get overconfident!" Souji growled, finally overcoming his body's stunned state. However, there was still a lingering numbness that Byakuya was all too familiar with and he used Souji's sluggishness to his advantage. Saito-sensei's technique of the week was _Hōzuri_ which was a simple but precise slash technique meant to lightly graze and cause superficial wounds. Paired with the hohou movements that Hisana had taught him, Byakuya was a force of nature and was able to push Souji back and force him into a defensive stance.

If Souji was worried, he did well in not showing it. "_Bakudō 4: Hainawa!" _ he shouted, conjuring his reishi into a rope of lightning to bind Byakuya with.

_"Bakudo 8: Seki!"_ Byakuya countered, conjuring his own reishi to block and repel Souji's kidō.

Souji had to throw himself to the floor to avoid his own kidō. As he scrambled to his feet, he lunged at Byakuya, assuming a full-out offensive stance. He was raging now, completely angry and upset at the thought that the new kid could overpower him. Byakuya was forced to retreat into a defensive stance as he met out each of his blows, until he caught sight of an opening in Souji's movements. He knew from the last time that Souji did this to draw his opponent close to finish him so he simply dropped his sword and took advantage of that opening with his fists, performing Noriyuki's favored _Ikkotsu_ Hakuda technique. His opponent gasped, the air knocked out of him as he was sent flying across the dojo. Souji wouldn't be getting up after that.

Byakuya walked over to his fallen senpai and knelt down beside him. "I learned all of that from my teammates so don't tell me that they're useless."

"Your teammates aren't here to help you anymore!" Souji spat.

"True, but I learned something from you, too," Byakuya affirmed. "You told me to cut down those who are better than me. You should take it as a compliment, really, but just know that I'm taking that number one rank away from you. Now, do you need me to point you in the direction of the infirmary?"

"Get out of my face!" Souji hissed as he slowly staggered to his feet and limped out of the dojo.

Saito-sensei and the class stared at Byakuya with complete surprise and shock. Nobody defeated Souji before, let alone treated him like _that_. Saito-sensei slowly broke into a large smile and laughed. "Good job, Asahi. I think you're going to do well in my class."

Byakuya couldn't help but to feel accomplished over such a small thing like taking down the class bully. He realized then that instead of focusing on the whole picture, he just had to take things one step at a time, knowing that each step was going to bring him closer to graduating and marrying Hisana.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach!**

I'm SO sorry for the lack of updates again. All I have are lame excuses, but I am getting there though! We're at 17/20!

Thank you Sabathiel, sunev.31, xSilentWolf and Xxsakurachan97 for reviewing!  
>And thanks to anyone who's still around.<p>

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><p>Of all the feats Byakuya had to accomplish, achieving Bankai was the most difficult, without a doubt. Kuchiki Ginrei had told Byakuya that the only way to achieve Bankai was through <em>Jinzen<em>, sword meditation. It was the only way to have a proper conversation with one's Zanpakutō and it was also the only way to learn new abilities. He had known from the beginning that this was not going to be an easy task, but he had thought that Senbonzakura would have been the least bit cooperative.

Upon meeting Senbonzakura in the inner world and seeing his true form for the first time, Byakuya was met with nothing but hostility from the samurai who immediately tried to cut out his heart. Byakuya was forced to flee his inner world, sustaining a shallow chest wound from Senbonzakura's blade. He grimaced upon realization that all injuries sustained were reflected into reality.

At first, he thought maybe Senbonzakura was having an off day, but he was met with the same hostility and ferocity the second time and third time he had tried to communicate with his other half. Byakuya thought maybe he might have been going about this wrong and perhaps Senbonzakura disliked fighting? So the fourth time, he had tried to appear harmless and peaceful.

"Please, let's just talk," Byakuya begged, facing the stoic samurai.

"_Jinzen_ is not for talking," Senbonzakura answered, finally becoming responsive, sword drawn and ready to cut his master to ribbons. "If you want to achieve Bankai, you must fight and defeat me."

"Senbonzakura-san, listen to what I have to say!" Byakuya said urgently.

The samurai scoffed at him. "You are not my master."

"I don't want to be your master!" he clarified. "We're supposed to be comrades!"

"You are not my comrade, either," Senbonzakura answered hostilely, refusing to lower his sword.

"If that's the case, then why did you tell me your name?" Byakuya demanded. "If you hated me from the beginning, then you shouldn't have reached out in the first place!"

"I'm teaching you a lesson, boy!" he answered angrily. Gathering his emotions and calming down, the samurai smirked as he stated, "It hardly compares, but at least now you know."

"Now I know?" Byakuya repeated with a frown, having no clue what his zanpakutō was talking about.

"I refuse to help you until you acknowledge it," Senbonzakura said stubbornly.

Byakuya thought his next words carefully, knowing that Senbonzakura would try to kill him if he said the wrong thing. "What happens when I realize what it is you are trying to teach me?"

"You shouldn't worry so much for the future," Senbonzakura said bleakly. "At this rate, it doesn't seem like you're going to have one."

Forced to flee again, Byakuya had to grimace at all the wounds Senbonzakura left on him. He was confused, and had thought that he and his zanpakutō had always been on good terms. This rebellion was causing him much grief and stress and he was unsure who he could talk to about this. There was no way he could bring it up to Ginrei, Sojun or Hisana for fear of appearing inadequate. Kaien would only give him a stupid speech about the heart again and he wasn't emotionally close enough with Ren or Natsumi to dare ask them. Which only left Noriyuki.

"Do you and your zanpakutō get along?" Byakuya asked curiously, now realizing that he didn't know much about Noriyuki's.

"I guess you could say that," Noriyuki answered thoughtfully as he glanced down to the nodachi on his lap.

"You know... in all these years, I don't think I've ever seen you release it..." Byakuya commented.

"Is that so?" Noriyuki stammered, looking away. "I'm sure you've seen it. You probably just forgot with that horrible memory of yours!" Byakuya stared at him with a raised eyebrow and before he could reply, Noriyuki hastily sputtered, "Back off, would you?!"

"Nori, calm down," Byakuya conceded, surprised by his sudden hostility. He had hardly even pushed him for an answer and wondered if Noriyuki even knew its name.

"I do know it," he affirmed, knowing exactly what Byakuya was thinking. "_Guren no Oodachi. _I just..."

"It's okay. You don't have to explain yourself to me," Byakuya assured him, understanding the need to keep secrets. "Great Blade of Crimson, huh? Sounds pretty cool."

"Ha, it's a lot better than your girly Thousand Cherry Blossoms!" Noriyuki teased. "I still can't decide who has a prettier zanpakutō, you or Hisana-chan."

"That's enough out of you!" Byakuya growled, pulling Noriyuki into a headlock.

To his surprise, instead of flailing and begging to be let go, Noriyuki abruptly shoved one hand against his face, the other to his knee, and then pushed hard, throwing off Byakuya's balance before he could even react. The smaller boy then finished him off with a quick jab to the stomach to throw him to the ground. "Hyah!" he shouted as he did so. Noriyuki beamed for a moment, quite pleased with his technique and then suddenly snapped out of it at the realization of what he had just done. "Oh, shit, Byakuya, are you alright?" he exclaimed, crouching down next to his friend to poke him.

"What the hell was that about?!" Byakuya groaned, swatting Noriyuki's hand away. "And when did you learn how to do that?!"

"I've had so many people throw themselves at me during class and after fending them off, I guess it's just become second nature to me," Noriyuki laughed sheepishly, but abruptly stopped when he realized something. "Why do you sound so _surprised_? I did tell you that I was good at Hakuda," he said accusingly.

"I didn't realize you were _that_ good..."

"Oi! What's that supposed to mean?! Get off your lazy ass and I'll just show you how good I am!"

As Byakuya staggered to his feet, the sudden realization that he had never sparred with Noriyuki dawned onto him. Ren and Kaien were his usual sparring partners, and he had even sparred with Natsumi once, but he was surprised that he had never bothered to challenge Noriyuki to a fight. Even during the summers when the two of them returned home to Rukongai, they had trained alone and only studied the textbook materials together.

"I don't think we've ever sparred together," Noriyuki commented, now realizing the same thing.

"I wonder why," Byakuya answered thoughtfully. "Well, do you want to spar then?"

"Hm, alright," the smaller one replied as he stood up and held his fists up.

Byakuya stared at him with a confused look. "I meant Zanjutsu, Nori," he clarified.

"You just want to know what my zanpakutō's release is," Noriyuki answered smugly. "Since we're sparring, I wouldn't mind releasing it," he said, still making no effort to draw his sword. "But you'd actually have to _make_ me need my sword."

"I've never fought with someone who solely depended on Hakuda..." Byakuya commented. "Isn't this kind of unfair?"

"Jeez, Byakuya, how much of a handicap do you need?" Noriyuki laughed. "You're never going to improve if you make it a habit of asking your opponents to take it easy on you!"

"Tch!" Byakuya hissed and withdrew his sword. He had never really seen or paid attention to any of the improvements Noriyuki had made and was now extremely curious of what his fighting style was like and how skilled he _really_ was. Now that he thought of it, Noriyuki's other scores must have been phenomenal in order to balance out his horrible Kidō scores in order to enroll into an elite class. Well, Noriyuki had simply asked for it so he must have known what he was doing on some level.

Without a second thought, Byakuya struck down hard with his blade. He met resistance immediately and believed that Noriyuki had simply come to his senses and used his zanpakutō, but to his surprise, his sparring partner managed to stop the blade with his bare hands. Noriyuki must have been using some kind of technique as well since he wasn't even bleeding from the sharp blade pressing against the soft skin of his palms.

"Worried now?" Noriyuki asked with a smug smile, and struck Byakuya square in the chest with an open palm strike, knocking the air out of him. Byakuya suddenly realized that he was the one at the disadvantage in this fight. He was constrained by what his zanpakutō could and could not do whereas Noriyuki was unhindered. "Do you need to release your zanpakutō?" he badgered, deflecting another one of Byakuya's strikes with his forearm. He managed another hit on Byakuya with a well-aimed kick to the waist. "Release it!"

"Chire, Senbonzakura!" Byakuya hissed, realizing that he really wouldn't be able to fight Noriyuki with an unreleased blade.

Noriyuki paused at the illusion of falling cherry blossoms and quietly muttered to himself that Byakuya might really have the prettiest zanpakutō in all of Soul Society. He shook his head, reminding himself that he needed to focus and concentrate on the match instead of thinking of trivial things to annoy Byakuya.

Noriyuki braced himself as Byakuya directed the blade fragments to cut him down and winced as the shards cut through to his skin. He pulled away and threw a punch at Byakuya which was immediately deflected by Senbonzakura. "Tch!" he growled as the blades cut his knuckles. "Time to end this," Noriyuki thought as he concentrated his reiryoku into his fists. If the only way to hit Byakuya was to hit through Senbonzakura, then so be it.

Noriyuki readied himself and began charging towards Byakuya to deliver a powerful, two-fisted punch. Senbonzakura, which had been surrounding Byakuya in a protective circle, suddenly dropped, creating an opening for Noriyuki and leaving Byakuya wide open and vulnerable to hits.

"Eh?!" Noriyuki gasped, trying to skid to a halt. He tripped over his own feet and to stop himself from hitting an undefended Byakuya, aimed his reiryoku into the ground, creating a large crater to face plant in. "Why didn't you block that?!" Noriyuki groaned, spiritual pressure cooling.

"I don't know..." Byakuya answered, horrified as Senbonzakura suddenly returned to its sealed state. "Chire, Senbonzakura," he ordered, frowning at his unresponsive zanpakutō.

"Why isn't he listening to you?" Noriyuki asked with a frown as he slowly picked himself up.

"I don't know," Byakuya answered again, sheathing his sword with frustration. "He's been unresponsive lately and I never thought he would go as far as to cripple me in battle."

"Does that mean I win our fight?" Noriyuki asked hopefully.

"Definitely not! It's a draw," Byakuya firmly declared and out of habit, he reached for his friend's arm to apply a healing kidō.

"Oh, that's not necessary," Noriyuki said, pulling his hand away with a sheepish laugh. "I get Natsumi-chan to take care of me now. It's nice. Does Hisana-chan take care of your wounds?"

"No, I usually prefer it if she doesn't see them," Byakuya admitted. "She fusses and worries a lot."

"But that just means she cares," he pointed out in response. "I love it when Natsumi-chan looks after me." Changing the subject back to Senbonzakura, Noriyuki asked, "How long has he not been responding to you?"

"Since I began trying to learn Bankai," Byakuya sighed. "He's been difficult since I asked. He's been going off on tangents lately about how he doesn't even want to be my comrade in battle."

"Did he say why?" Noriyuki asked curiously. Byakuya paused, suddenly realizing that he had never asked _why_ his zanpakutō was acting out against him. He was only concerned with what Senbonzakura's lesson was supposed to be. Seeing that look on his face, Noriyuki chuckled and said, "That's a good place to start then. Good luck, Byakuya!"

* * *

><p>Hisana knew how hard Byakuya was working so that they could have their future together. In turn, she decided that she would do her best as well and continue trying to beat Ren for the #1 spot. Though her skills had improved drastically to the point where she could maintain her #2 spot without having to worry about #3 stealing it, she knew that the distance in skill between her and Byakuya would never lessen.<p>

The couple promised to meet every day for one meal and with each passing day, Hisana couldn't help but to notice how tired and exhausted her beloved Byakuya looked. She held her tongue, not wanting to comment, knowing that asking would only trouble him and make him shy away from her. But now, seeing that every day Byakuya had a new set of bandages on, she couldn't stop herself.

"Are you having troubles in class again?" Hisana asked worriedly. "Why aren't you healing any of these?"

"I don't have time," Byakuya lied. The truth was that there really was no point in fixing himself up, especially since it was inevitable that he would get new wounds after every match.

"Please take care of yourself better," Hisana pleaded. "Didn't you tell me that worrying was bad for me?"

Seeing her bright smile and the obvious love in her eyes was too much for Byakuya. Overwhelmed with guilt, he sadly blurted out, "I can't marry you!"

She stared at him in surprise, realizing that something was wrong with him. She gently touched his shoulder supportively and asked, "What is it, Byakuya-san? Did something happen?" She felt no hurt or pain from his words, knowing that they came from his insecurities.

"I can't achieve Bankai by the time you graduate. It's impossible," he admitted. "I can't even communicate with Senbonzakura clearly."

"Is that where these wounds are coming from? _Jinzen_?" she asked.

He nodded slowly. "I can't beat him. I'm too weak."

"Do you communicate with Senbonzakura-san often?" Hisana asked calmly.

"Every day," he replied. "He's... rude."

"He's hostile," Hisana corrected, knowing her Yukianesa to be the same. "You two aren't in sync so you're in chaos. Remember that Senbonzakura-san is not just a tool, but your comrade."

"I know that," he sighed, defeated. "I understand that I'm not Senbonzakura's master and I have even told him so but he doesn't even want to be my comrade. I have to be one with him in order to move forward but he refuses to work with me. He claims to be teaching me a lesson."

"And what lesson is that?"

"I haven't the faintest clue. It's difficult to learn a lesson when he's always trying to kill me."

"Senbonzakura-san would never kill you," Hisana stated confidently. "If he's trying to teach you a lesson, then killing you would be pointless."

"So what am I supposed to do? Let him cut my throat open?"

"Yes," Hisana nodded, much to Byakuya's surprise and horror. "Senbonzakura-san would never kill you," she repeated. "Stop running and face him head on."

"I think you're putting too much faith in him," Byakuya retorted dryly.

"No, you just think I'm putting too much faith in _you_," Hisana corrected. "You know, for someone as cool as you, you're awfully insecure."

"Eh?!" Byakuya sputtered, turning red at her comment. "Am not! I'm just a bit of a pessimist sometimes... And if anything, you're far too optimistic!"

"I'd rather have a positive outlook on life than to hold everything in contempt," Hisana proclaimed. "Maybe Senbonzakura-san just wants you to lighten up!"

Byakuya suddenly leaned in and kissed her, smiling as he did so. "Thank you," he whispered, grateful that she could wash away all his insecurities and doubts with her honest words. He decided right there that Hisana would be his inspiration and muse for Bankai.

* * *

><p>With a newfound strength and inspiration, Byakuya knew that this would be his only chance to pass Senbonzakura's lesson. If he failed now, there would be no going back and he really would have amounted to nothing. After closing his eyes and initiating <em>Jinzen<em> again, he found himself face to face with the samurai once more.

There was no need for words between the two and they immediately began to battle. Byakuya met each blow with equal strength and determination, ready to face all his troubles head on. Still, Senbonzakura had the upperhand and managed to disarm his master quickly. Instead of fleeing his inner world, Byakuya stood his ground, refusing to run anymore. Senbonzakura's blade stopped, centimeters away from his heart. "Do it!" Byakuya shouted, ready to lose everything. He deserved it after all. "Cut my heart out."

"You're a fool," Senbonzakura stated as he pressed the tip of the blade against Byakuya's chest to draw blood. "You want to die so badly?"

"You wouldn't kill me," Byakuya affirmed.

"Don't take me lightly!" the samurai hissed, pressing the blade into him harder.

Byakuya winced, but stood his ground. "Why are you doing this? We're supposed to be comrades. I've never done you wrong."

"No, you haven't," he agreed.

"Then why do this? After all that we've been through together, how could you leave me now when I needed you the most?" Byakuya demanded. "How could you just abandon—" He suddenly stopped himself, now coming to the realization of what Senbonzakura wanted him to learn.

Seeing this, the samurai pulled back and sheathed his blade, and then slowly removed his mask so he could look Byakuya in the eyes. "What am I trying to teach you?"

"Abandonment, that's the lesson you are trying to teach me," Byakuya said with quiet realization. "You're abandoning me like I did to Rukia."

The samurai nodded, quiet relieved that his master wasn't completely hopeless. "You can't move on until you find her."

"Are you forbidding me from marrying Hisana?" Byakuya asked.

The samurai laughed jovially at this and shook his head. "No, you're forbidding yourself from marrying her."

"I don't understand," he answered, wondering what was behind Senbonzakura's cryptic words.

"Byakuya, I am part of your soul. In a way, I'm you. I know what you think and feel, and deep down, you don't think you're deserving of her. It's your reluctance and insecurity that is stopping you."

"So it's because of my insecurities that you abandoned me?"

"Yes, and no," Senbonzakura answered. "I was just teaching you a lesson. I am willing to teach you Bankai, but you don't seem to want to. Deep down, you don't want to accept this happy ending with that girl."

"What are you saying?" Byakuya asked hoarsely, not wanting to accept the truth of his actions.

"Byakuya, it's not wrong to happy," Senbonzakura stated quietly.

"How can you say that?!" Byakuya demanded, eyes prickling with tears. "To be happy is to move on. To be happy means to forget her."

"No, it doesn't," Senbonzakura answered compassionately with a shake of his head. "You can have both."

"No, I can't. How am I supposed to move on, knowing that I robbed my sister of her happy ending when I left her there to fend for herself?! She's probably dead, and here I am, ready to marry the girl I'm in love with and forget about Rukia altogether!" he shouted, voice cracking with sobs.

"Byakuya, you're only human," Senbonzakura stated, "and humans make mistakes."

"That wasn't a mistake. That was a crime," Byakuya answered, and then shook his head. "No, that was a _sin_."

"In the end, it's still a mistake," Senbonzakura said.

"It's an unforgivable one," Byakuya emphasized. He turned away from his other half, unable to look at him. "What happens now?"

"You need to stop closing your heart off to that girl. You need to tell her what your sins and move on. And only then will I teach you Bankai."

"What happens when she rejects all that I am?"

Senbonzakura chose his words carefully before responding, "Then you really will have lost everything."

* * *

><p>"How did it go with Senbonzakura-san?" Hisana asked eagerly when he asked to meet her.<p>

"I will achieve Bankai before you graduate. I probably won't have full control over it, but I'll have it learned," Byakuya promised. "And then we can get married, if you'd still want me."

"And why wouldn't I want you?" Hisana asked cheekily, thrilled at this news.

Byakuya closed his hand over hers and looked at her sadly. "I've done some pretty horrible things in the past, things I've never told you about."

"Nori-chan's accepted your faults. I can do the same," she assured him.

"Don't make promises you can't keep," he said quietly. "You know that I came to Rukongai after that I died, right?"

Hisana nodded. "Right."

"I wasn't alone," Byakuya stated and watched as Hisana's eyes widened in confusion. "I died with my baby sister. Her name was Rukia and we arrived in Rukongai together."

"What happened to her?" Hisana whispered, dreading the story that Byakuya was to tell her.

"I lived in the 78th with her and things were really bad. Because of our spiritual powers, we both felt hunger and I could barely get enough to sustain us both. I couldn't work because of her and with winter approaching, I knew that we would both die."

Byakuya's fingers tightened around Hisana's as he inhaled sharply, stifling a quiet cry. He had never let himself be this vulnerable to anyone before. He was laying his heart out bare for Hisana and there was a fear building up for what she might do to it.

"It's okay, Byakuya," Hisana assured him, squeezing his fingers back. "Tell me. I won't see you any different. You know that."

"I abandoned her," Byakuya admitted shamefully. "I left my sister for dead and I never looked back. I'm the worst of the worst, Hisana."

"You've regretted that decision all this time, haven't you?" Hisana asked. Byakuya nodded solemnly to her question and then to his surprise, she abruptly pulled him to her in a loving embrace. "It was a mistake, Byakuya. We all make them so please don't hold yourself in contempt anymore."

"No, Hisana, I can't," he stammered, ready to push her away.

"Stop punishing yourself!" Hisana cried, tightening her embrace around him. "You don't realize that you're not the only one that you're hurting! You're always so protective of yourself. You never let me in, and I see how you shut out others like Kaien-dono, Ren-kun, and even Nori-chan now! Aren't you lonely?"

"I don't deserve you," Byakuya said softly, voice cracking, as he slowly brought his arms around Hisana to hug her back. "I don't deserve any of this."

"I think you're wrong," she said, gently rebuking him. "I think after all that you've endured, you deserve all of this and more. Okay?"

"Okay," Byakuya nodded, and moved to kiss her shyly. "I honestly don't know what I would do without you right now," he confessed. "You're my inspiration for Bankai."

Hisana's cheeks colored at his admission. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go speak with Senbonzakura!" she encouraged with a warm smile. "The sooner you marry me, the sooner you'll be able to find Rukia-chan!"

Byakuya lifted her hand to his lips and planted a chaste kiss on the back of her hand. "I know that I'm not the best at expressing what I feel, but I love you, Hisana. I really do."

Hisana blushed harder as she looked away from him shyly. "I love you, too, Byakuya."

Byakuya succeeded in learning his Bankai one year before Hisana was to graduate from Shinô. As promised, Sojun gave the couple his blessing and the two married shortly after Hisana's graduation. Their wedding was small and quaint with only their closest family and friends attending the quiet ceremony. On that bright spring morning, beneath a blossoming plum tree, Byakuya and Hisana pledged their love for one another and vowed to have a long, happy marriage until death did they part.

And in the end, death _did_ part them...


End file.
